Shadow
by dragonsclaw
Summary: In a world of Hero's and Villains, a warrior from the forgotten past emerges, with a past none should know, and a destiny no one can fathom
1. Act 1 A Titan is Born

Disclaimer: I'm only going to do this once, I own nothing in the story except my OC's

The massive Demon Dragon known as Malchior roared in triumph as it reached for the only thing that could possibly be a threat to itself. A young, pale, girl with violet hair and a white cloak who floated defiantly in front of him. "Did you think you could defeat me?" he roared, "I taught you everything you know."

"You taught me magic," she yelled, "but I've also learned a new curse!" using her powers she called the book Malchior had been trapped in and cried out, "Aldruon en Lenthranell Losolaneeris NOR!"

Malchior reared back from the young girl, for a moment, until he realized that that was not the spell Rorek had used to imprison him. A brilliant flash of energy erupted from the book and suddenly faded to nothing.

Malchior laughed in his victory seizing the young girl in his claws, and began to squeeze, attempting to crush her in the palm of his hand.

"Let her go, Dragon!"

Malchior turned to face the thundering voice, wondering what sane human would dare challenge him, a demon dragon. As he smelled the air though, his mind was clouded in confusion. "You!" he roared at the solitary figure on top the tower, "in all my years, I have never smelled the likes of someone such as yourself, what…what are you?"

The tall young man brushed some of his brown hair away from his eyes and laughed menacingly, "I'm your worst nightmare."

Malchior, outraged by this human's impudence, dropped the nearly unconscious girl onto the tower roof, and advanced on the young man standing across the tower from him. The dragon reared his head back and released a pillar of devastating fire at his target. The flames enveloped the young warrior, hiding him completely from view. Somehow, though, a powerful voice was laughing from inside the flames, "Is that all you've got? That's pathetic!" The flames cleared to reveal the young man standing there surrounded by a faintly glowing energy shield, his body was not even slightly singed by the inferno. His eyes drifted shut, and he seemed to concentrate. Brilliant light surrounded his figure, it rapidly grew in intensity until it was far too bright to look at. An unseen wind kicked up around him, blowing his hair and black padded armor.

The young girl, whose cloak had magically faded from white to blue, hesitantly looked up at the source of the light, noting that all her friends were coming to. She stared in awe at the glowing person that stood atop their tower. Malchior, however, saw this scene through the magical perspective of a dragon; he saw the strain that this was putting on his opponent, but he also witnessed the tremendous amount of magical energy flowing around him. For the first time in his lengthy existence, he was afraid. The young warrior slowly lifted his head, his eyes snapped open, shining a brilliant white, even brighter than the light that surrounded him.

A growl formed deep in his throat. "Holy!" he snarled, and the entire world lit up like a star. The dragon looked around in abject terror at the raw magical power that shone around him. Countless beams of incredibly brilliant energy slammed into his body from all directions, tearing the body of the demon dragon apart. The light continued to build in intensity until it hid the creature from view. The light peaked in its intensity, and instantly faded away, leaving everyone rubbing their eyes, trying to see in the now seemingly dim daylight. The five friends looked around franticly for the dragon, expecting to see at least his mangled form lying around somewhere, however, there was no sign of the creature. It had been completely obliterated by the blast.

"Dude," said a short, green skinned member of the group, "What was that?"

The young sorceress looked around, searching the area, "Why don't we ask him?" she said pointing to the young man on the far end of the roof, leaning heavily on a handrail.

As if on cue, the young man collapsed to the ground, unconscious by the time he hit.


	2. Awakening part 1

I felt myself beginning to wake up from the unnatural sleep. Casting holy had wreaked havoc on my body.

Slowly, My eyes opened and I was greeted by the sight of this beautiful girl with vibrant red hair and green eyes, but not normal green eyes, even the part that was usually white was a light shade of green. Looking at her, something just seemed very foreign.

She was staring across the room at something; I followed her gaze to see that she was staring at my buster sword…good, that meant it had been sealed up with me. I figured that in this day and age, whenever the heck it was, it would be hard to find something like it.

She must have heard me move because she jumped and looked at me, her eyes locked with mine, she blinked a few times, and took on a very shocked expression. Of course, I could hardly blame her, my eyes were light blue, but they shimmered with an unearthly glow, brightly enough that they could even be seen in the light of the room we were in.

I blinked my eyes a few times to finish clearing my vision, and then looked straight at the young girl.

"Well," I said with a gentle smile, "aren't you a sight for sore eyes."

She seemed somewhat confused by the statement, as though she had never heard it before; it looked like she was about to ask me something when she suddenly started, as if she just remembered something.

"Wait here please," she said, "I must go and bring my friends."

Without waiting for an answer, the girl rocketed from the room.

When she returned with her 'friends', they all seemed quite startled by what they saw; they must have expected me to still be rather weak, probably due to the fact that I had been nearly comatose for a day.

However, by the time they all arrived, I had already disconnected and turned off all the machines, and strapped the magnetic clamp for my sword on, and as they stepped into the room I had just picked the six-foot weapon up from the ground, and sat on the bed polishing the blade with a piece of cloth I had found lying around.

Looking at me, could all of their mouths come unhinged, they would have hit the floor.

"Oh," I said setting the sword gently on the ground again and standing up, "Hello"

They all responded with various greetings, with the exception of one of them, who seemed rather preoccupied about something, and looked like she really would have preferred to skip this little meeting.

"I'd like to thank you guys for taking care of me while I was out, that spell takes a lot out of me," I said.

The girl that had initially been in the room with me burst out with a rather…bizarre greeting, "Hello what is your name where are you from what is you favorite food how did you get here and will you be my friend?" she exclaimed.

I almost staggered back from the assault of questions, but another one of them, obviously the leader, stepped in, he was rather short, dressed in a red, green, and gold suit complete with cape and mask, he narrowed down the questions a little bit.

"Easy there Star, This guy's had a long day. But," he said, looking over towards me, "she does have the right idea, what's your name?"

"Commander Chris Morcom, SOLDIER first class" I replied, "but please, just call me Chris."

"Glorious!" exclaimed the red head, "I am Starfire of Tamaran, in meeting you I am most pleased!" I got a better look at her this time, she definitely was foreign to this planet, she looked around 5'10", her skin was had an amber tint to it, and she was dressed in a rather exotic purple uniform.

"Yo man, the name's Cyborg." The name definitely fit, he was a massive mix of human and machine, laced with intricate patterns of blue and black that stood well over six feet tall.

"And I'm Beast Boy," stated another, a shorter one, with strange green skin and hair, and pointed ears; dressed in a tight green and black jumpsuit

I looked at the girl with blue hair, I remembered her, she was the one that had released me, She was dressed in that same black uniform that left her legs completely exposed; I couldn't see the arms of it, they were hidden under a blue cloak. But her most striking feature was a pair of sapphire blue eyes, and violet hair. "Raven," she said coolly.

"And I'm Robin."

"So…where ya from?" asked Beast Boy.

I hesitated, and then finally spoke, "It's kind of a long story."

"Anyone objected to a long story?" asked Robin, when no one said anything, he continued, "Well, then go ahead."

Beast Boy looked around the medical ward, "Ok, but if this is gonna be really long, lets go up to the main room where there is some couches to sit on."

Everyone agreed and they led me out of the medical room.

The team sat on the couches scattered around the Titans main room, Raven sat on one of the many couches in the huge room with a book sitting closed next to her, waiting patiently for my story, Beast Boy and Cyborg walked over from the kitchen area both with bowls in hand, and Robin and Star sat on another couch, leaning forward and anxiously awaiting the beginning of the tail.

"I can't believe you are eating Tofu cubes while this guy is telling his story, I mean at least eat popcorn like a normal person," Cyborg groaned.

"No way dude," Beast Boy snorted, "I love my Tofu."

"Guys," Robin snapped, "Cool it, we're here for this guys story." He looked towards where I stood, patiently waiting, leaning against a wall, "You can go ahead with your story now."

"Alright, but I'll warn you, some of you may not believe me. I was born in a city called Midgar, it was about twice the size of this city, and was run by a company called Shinra. I grew up in the slums, and when I turned 13, I signed up for Shinra's military program. Apparently, someone thought I had a lot of potential, so they pulled me from the regular military training, and placed me into SOLDIER training."

"During training, I excelled, I fed off the challenges that the instructors threw at us, enjoying every moment of what was torture to others. I apparently did well enough that I was to be placed as a SOLDIER first class. Unfortunately, when I went in to be infused with Mako…"

"Hold it," said Beast Boy, "What's that?"

"Oh, sorry, I can't really explain it too well, but all that it applies to in my story is that it is a powerful chemical that when anything is exposed to a very small amount, it enhances everything about them, they become faster, stronger, smarter, and all around, a more effective soldier. Unfortunately being exposed to anything but the smallest amounts of Mako usually results in mutation, poisoning, death, and other exciting things like that."

The entire team blinked in disbelief.

"Anyway, when I went in to be infused with the stuff, the infusion system glitched and pumped me full of a massive amount of Mako. It immediately put me into a coma. The scientists were amazed that I even survived, much less the fact that I didn't mutate, even though I was still in a deep coma. I spent the next 4 months of my life on a life support system. When Shinra decided that I wasn't worth keeping alive, they pulled the plug. But, I scared the crap out of all the doctors and scientists when they unplugged me. I didn't die…instead, I woke up."

"The effects of my Mako overdose were quite impressive. As a small amount of Mako enhances a human the amount I received basically boosted me beyond any human capability. I was instantly reassigned to the field, where I joined ranks in the Wutai war. I worked my way through the ranks quickly, and was soon the commander of an entire battalion, only answering to General Sephiroth himself. I fought many battles during the war, including leading the final charge on the Wutai army that drove them back into their city, where they surrendered.

"After the war ended, SOLDIER was reassigned to far less interesting positions, security detail, guard positions, and monster hunts. Needless to say, I was bored out of my mind. That's why, when I heard about a scientist offering a passage to the far future where the adventure of a lifetime could take place; I jumped at the chance."

"However, I've decided that I acted a little too quickly. When I arrived at the lab, I was drugged, and forcibly strapped to a table, where Hojo, the chief scientist of the Shinra Corporation approached me. He went off into some long story about this amazing scientific discovery, but I'll just skip to the important crap. He had discovered a way to seal someone into some ancient magical book where they would remain asleep until a certain prophesy was fulfilled. The aforementioned prophecy talked of a young sorceress," I looked straight at Raven, "I'll assume that to have been you, who would release a great evil on the world."

"Hojo, then took the liberty of slightly adjusting the story, he changed the words that Rorek said to seal the dragon into the spell that would release whatever he bound into the book. The nature of the spell was that I would be asleep in suspended animation until someone called me out. Even though I was trapped inside the book, I could see everything that happened in the world whenever I wanted to."

"Not long after I was sealed in, General Sephiroth went nuts, and nearly destroyed the entire planet. The catastrophe sent the entire planet back to the Stone Age, where the survivors slowly rediscovered the lost technology, having to repeat the entire development of society, before long, the knowledge of the meteor's true tale was lost all together, and people believe that such a catastrophe wiped out the dinosaurs, when it actually wiped out the world as I knew it."

"Everything else is basic history, society redeveloped into what it now is, then Raven got the book, read it, was tricked by Malchior, and released him, then in her attempt to destroy him, released me."

The Team looked on at me with varying expressions. Robin appeared calm and collected; Beast Boy was still confused; Raven was deep in thought, pondering my words; and Star was watching in wonder; but all of them held some slight look of disbelief.

"I knew that book was old," said Raven, "But I never knew it was THAT old."

"Hold on," said Cyborg, "That ain't possible, you're saying that you are from some civilization from the past, that was destroyed by a meteor, sent back to the stone age, redeveloped, and you only survived because you got locked in a book?"

"Well, yeah, that's about the gist of it," I replied.

"Dude," said Beast Boy, "I'm still stuck back on the whole Makeyo thing."

"I still think you're crazy," said Cyborg, "If there ever was such a civilization, we'd have found ruins or something!"

"Well," I replied, "When Meteor hit, it hit Midgar full on, the shockwave it created leveled the costal city of Junon, a military port. It set the munitions they stored off, reducing the city to a smoking crater, and as for other things…this happened over twenty thousand years ago, so not much survived time itself. Frankly, I can't prove my story, all I have is my word."

"Well," said Cyborg, "you've got a good story at least, but I have an idea to test it. Your SOLDIER was the elites of your time right?

"Yeah,"

"So you should have no trouble with the training stuff we have here, let's go outside, ya feeling up to an obstacle course?"

I smirked, "To be honest…nothing sounds like more fun to me at the moment, I could use a nice exercise."


	3. Awakening part 2

Outside of the tower at the training field, Cyborg finished setting up the obstacle course.

"Alright," he said, "the idea is to get from where you are now, to the far side, where you see Robin and Starfire, as quickly as possible. Oh yeah, and don't get killed."

I smirked, far to easy. "Sounds like fun,"

I crouched on the starting line, waiting for his cue to go, every muscle tensed, every ounce of my SOLDIER training ready and at hand. I was prepared for anything.

"Ready…GO!" yelled Cyborg.

I sprinted forward into the course, to be greeted by well over a dozen robotic tentacles. I drew the sword from my back and swung it gracefully cleaving through three tentacles in one swipe. I then used the momentum of the sword as a pole vault, and launched myself into the air.

I came down towards the central hub that all the cables connected to and struck with the sword. The hub fell into two sparking pieces. Not even breaking stride I charged forward to face the next obstacle.

Six rocks rose out of the ground to reveal launchers that propelled countless explosive disks at him. I dodged most of them, and hit the rest with my sword, and then quickly focused on the energy deep inside me, concentrated on the launchers, then released, all six launchers burst into flames, setting off all of the discs inside them, and reducing all of them to small craters.

As I sprinted past the smoldering holes, I saw a massive steel door dropping down to bar my path; I sprinted towards it, and dove underneath, just barely making the hole.

I looked up to see at least a dozen more of these doors closing in front of me, deciding to go through the doors rather than trying to race them all, and drove my hands straight through the steel face of the door that had closed behind me, ripped it loose from its mounts, and hurled it into the rest of the doors with such force, that it knocked every one of them down, as well as causing one of them to fall across the deep hole in the ground that was immediately following the multiple barriers.

I continued to run towards the final challenge: a small army of Slade's robots that the Titans had captured, repaired, and reprogrammed.

I charged them at a full sprint, and lifted my sword for combat. Ten feet from the first robot warrior, my eyes flickered.

With a surge of crimson light that flared around me, I more than doubled in speed. With a flash of metal the first machine was in two pieces; but nearly a dozen more rose to take its place.

Stopping on the other side of the small army of killer machines, I readied myself for a final charge, brought my sword down to my left side and took a single deep breath.

From the Titan's view, they saw this warrior standing alone against an army of robots, with the finish line on the far side of them. He drew his sword back and vanished, only to reappear on the other side of the robots, and gently resheathe his sword.

The five heroes looked on in confusion, until the robots began to turn around, and every one of them fell into two separate pieces, cut cleanly in half.

"So," I said, "How'd I do?"

The Titans, looking at the computer readout were speechless, until Cyborg finally spoke up. "Fifty-seven seconds, that's definitely a new course record."

"Dude, a new record?" Beast said, "I think we need a new obstacle course."

The Titans looked out at their destroyed training course, and nodded in agreement.

"Do you believe me now Cyborg?" I asked, turning my glowing gaze to the tall android.

"Still not so sure about the story," Cyborg replied, "But I have to believe what you said about your training. That run was awesome!"

"You're welcome to stay here for a while," said Robin, "We've got a spare room open that you could use. Beast Boy, it's right next to yours, would you show him the way?"

The changeling nodded in agreement, and led me back into the tower.

As soon as I had left, Robin looked at the other Titans, "As soon as Chris is settled down in his room, and Beast Boy gets back, we need to talk."

Starfire looked at Robin curiously, "What is this thing we need to talk about?"

"Chris, we need to decide whether or not we should ask him join the Titans."


	4. Awakening part 3

The five Titans gathered in the living room, it was now late at night, and I had apparently gone to bed.

"Alright Titans," Robin started, "We should get straight to the point, what do you all think of Chris, not to mention his background story."

Cyborg started, "I still have a hard time believing that story of his."

"Well," Robin replied, "There are only three options relating to that story. He's either crazy, lying, or telling the truth. Just from being around him today, we can all tell quite well that he's not insane."

Raven added in, "During his story, I was trying to sense his sincerity, he was perfectly sincere. So that rules out him lying."

"That means…he must have been telling the truth," observed Beast Boy.

"Well, that still is kinda hard to stomach," said Cyborg.

Raven looked straight at him, "I am from another dimension, You are more robot than man, Starfire is from another planet, and Beast Boy is a shapeshifter, isn't that also 'hard to stomach'?"

"I see your point," said Robin.

"I believe that he is nice, and kind, and strong, and would make a good addition to the team," stated Starfire, her mind clearly made up.

"I agree," said Cyborg, "If nothing else, his combat abilities could serve this team well. Not to mention the training that he's supposedly been through."

"He seems more settled than most people that I have met," said Raven, "I actually wouldn't mind him being around."

"Dude, he may be quiet and controlled now," said Beast Boy, "but he won't be when I'm done with him."

"Yeah," commented Cyborg with a smirk, "that worked wonderfully with Raven didn't it?"

Beast Boy tried to think of a comeback, but couldn't, so he just sat and sulked.

"Back to the decision," said Robin, "I'm for him joining, after all, with as good as he seems to be, I'd much rather have him fighting with us than against us. So let's just set it to a vote, but remember it has to be unanimous to get him in. Any against?" silence, "Ok, so who's for it?"

Robin was answered by four "Aye's" which he added his own to. "So it's settled then, we let him in on a…probationary basis, no codes, no passwords, no in depth info, agreed?"

"Agreed," was the answer received from the entire crew.

Hidden deep within the shadows outside the door, a single silent figure walked through the halls. Assuming the rest of the Titans to be asleep, I had figured it was ok to get up and wander. This was a side effect of the mako overdose I had received. Since mako is condensed lifestream, which is the energy of life, I contained a massive amount of life energy. The energy kept me awake, and caused me to wander even in the darkest night. I didn't need to sleep, and the rare times I did were simply to pass time.

As I strolled past the door to the main room, I heard the Titans inside. I only heard one word, "Agreed."

Deciding this to be a private meeting, I continued on my way, exploring the tower. By morning I planned to have covered the entire complex. I'd decided to not bother wasting this time with sleep until I'd explored not only the tower, but also the entire city and its surrounding area.

I heard the sound of the five Titans splitting up, and I was between them and their rooms, I didn't want them to know that I was out and about; they might think I was eavesdropping. Ducking back into a corner, I cast darkness around myself so I was completely hidden from view.

The Titans passed by my hiding place without so much as a thought that there was someone hiding inside there. After they were gone, I dispelled the darkness and slipped out of my corner to continue exploring.


	5. Awakening part 4

Beast Boy staggered into the Titans main room to see that the rest of the crew was in there already. After a quick "good morning" from everyone, except Raven of course, she barely acknowledged that he existed…as usual; he looked around.

"Dude," he said, "Anyone seen Chris? I didn't think he'd be one to sleep in."

No one had, so Robin responded, "Why don't you go and check on him, see if he's up yet."

Starfire looked away from the window she stood at and said, "That will not be necessary." Everyone looked at her strangely, so she pointed out the window.

The five heroes looked out the window to see me already outside, in a handstand, and cranking out a strange form of pushups from that position, showing no signs of slowing down.

As everyone picked their jaws up off the floor, Robin finally broke the silence. "Well, let's go down there and see how he is this morning. Remember, we have a question to ask him today."

Down on the beach, I finished with my inverted pushups, kicked out of the handstand in a half flip to my feet, and looked up to see the Titans approaching. "Good Morning," I called.

"Morning," said Robin, "You're out early, how long have you been up?"

"Uh, I'm not exactly sure, but I've been up for a while, since before the sun," I replied.

"Would you like to come join us for breakfast?" offered Robin.

I thought for a moment "What are you having?"

"Tofu!" exclaimed Beast Boy

"No," corrected Cyborg, "You, are having Tofu, we, are having waffles."

"Thanks for the offer," I replied, "but I think I'm gonna pass today, I nailed a deer this morning, and I'm in the mood for venison." I motioned over to a fire pit where a deer was roasting.

"Hold on," said Raven, "Where did that deer come from? There aren't any on this island."

"Oh," I replied, "I got it from the mainland."

"And how did you get there?" asked Beast Boy.

"Uuummm………uuhh……I……………ran?"

The Titans looked at me in absolute confusion, not like I could blame them, "How exactly did you run across water?" asked Robin.

"Same way I moved so fast back at the obstacle course, I cast a magic spell called haste on myself, it makes me move so fast that I can literally sprint across water without sinking."

"Ooooookkkaaayyy" said Cyborg, "That's interesting."

I just grinned, then said, "Ya know, this deer is too big for me to eat by myself, ya'll want some?"

"Dude," cried Beast Boy, "That's disgusting, how can you eat meat like that, it's just wrong!" He stormed off heading for the tower, "I'm gonna go eat my Tofu waffles."

I looked on, quite confused by the little elf's outburst. Robin stepped up beside me, "Don't mind that, B.B.'s power is changing into animals, he's been most the things that we normally eat. Kinda made him a vegetarian."

"O, ok," I replied, "I…guess that makes sense."

"As for the rest of us," said Cyborg, "We'd love some of that deer."

"Agreed," exclaimed Starfire, "I would love to try some of this…veneesoon?

They gathered around the deer as I picked up my sword and used it as a meat cleaver, shearing pieces of the deer off for myself and the Titans.

The rest of the day was spent casually, the Titans attempting to get to know me a little better, and vice-versa.

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Evening was late on, and the sun was already half set; the Titans were back in the central room.

"Ok," Robin said, interrupting an argument over the gamestation, "Chris, we have a question to ask you."

"I'm listening."

"We were wondering if you'd like to…" The Boy Wonder was abruptly cut off as sirens began to sound, and the room flashed red, causing me to jump to my feet and reach across my back for my sword, only to discover…it wasn't there. "Titans, trouble, let's go!" he looked at me, "Sorry about this, but could you wait here, there's a robbery in progress that we need to go take care of."

He sprinted out the door followed closely by the rest of the team.

"Uh, sure."

I sat down for a moment, and then decided that to go and "explore" the city some more, so I stood up, wrote down a quick note in case I didn't catch the Titans, grabbed my sword out of the corner, and walked out the door.

I reached the bottom of the tower and walked out, looking out across the bay, but saw no sign of the Titans. I shrugged, knowing they were going to get to the city somehow, cast haste on myself, and sprinted out across the bay.

I reached the main city quickly, and still moving at haste enhanced speed sprinted right up the side of a building, and stopped on top of the building, dispelled haste, and looked around.

I still saw no sign of a fight, so began to hop rooftop to rooftop, trying to find the scene of the crime.

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The T-car burst out of its underground tunnel into the streets of the city, followed closely by Robin on the R-cycle. They sped through the city at breakneck speeds, and reached the scene of the crime as the last light of the sun was fading into darkness.

Finding the criminals to still be inside, the five superheroes took up position around the only exit from the building, waiting to trap the criminals as they rushed out. Expecting this to be another routine hit on some unsuspecting criminals, they expected to hit them hard and fast, and be home within the hour. They expected far too much.

As the five titans stood around the building, a single small, cylindrical object came sailing out the door, Robin instantly recognized it. "Grena…" With a brilliant flash, and a thunderclap explosion, the flash-bang grenade exploded, blinding and deafening the team.

Cyborg was the only exception, being half machine, the robotic half of him instantly recovered from the stun, allowing him to see through his cybernetic eye. He watched in horror as nine heavily armed men charged out of the entrance and turned their guns toward the stunned Titans.

The android kicked into action and tackled Beast Boy to the ground as a spray of bullets flew over his head.

Starfire shot into the air, well out of range to try and clear her vision and ringing ears.

Robin's intense training from Gotham city kicked in and he moved behind a car for cover, as Raven threw up a defensive shield that completely covered her.

As the Titan's senses slowly came back online, they regrouped behind the car that Robin had initially used for cover.

"It's almost like they knew we were here," said Cyborg.

"Don't worry about that now," said Robin, "Here's the plan; Raven, we'll need a shield, I know you won't be able to hold it too long against that hail of bullets, but it only needs to hold for a moment. When she gives us the shield, Cy, Star and I are gonna hit 'em with everything we have, when they get knocked back by that, Beast Boy, go bowling. Everyone, go for the guns first, then the criminals. Ready?"

A voice came to them from the other side of the car, "Hey super freaks, catch."

Cyborg peeked over the car to see what they were talking about, gasped, and shouted, "Rocket launcher!"

"Titans' MOVE!" yelled Robin.

The five heroes scattered in all directions away from the car as the rocket flew from its tube, and struck the car square in the gas tank. The vehicle erupted into a pillar of fire. As they attempted to find a more secure place to take cover, they were forced to dodge the hail of bullets from eight machine guns, as the ninth loaded another rocket.

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High on the rooftops above the city, a dark figure leapt swiftly from rooftop to rooftop moving towards the source of the bright flash he had seen. As I closed in on its location, I saw a powerful explosion that pinpointed the location of the problem. I stopped on top of the nearest roof and looked down to see the Titans very well pinned down, hiding behind whatever cover they could find. My eyes flickered green for a moment, and then I jumped down towards the street.

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"Robin," yelled Cyborg across the fray, "Anymore ideas?"

"Give me a second!" he replied, thinking furiously for a way to get past this endless stream of weapons fire. "Well, they have to run out of ammo sometime."

A new voice, but somehow familiar drifted across the battlefield, "Hey, did someone decide to throw a party and not invite me?"

Three of the nine gunmen looked over at the source of the voice to see a well built young man standing in strange looking black padded armor, a massive sword slung across his back. Their leader, the one with the RL, smirked, "What are you gonna do?"

He drew a pistol from his belt and fired, only for the bullet to harmlessly ping off an invisible energy field. "What the…"

His words were cut short as I sprinted forward and drove a fist into the leaders stomach with such force that it threw him into one of his comrades and knocked them both tumbling.

Two more men, on an un-given signal, opened fire, only to have their bullets deflected by the shield as well.

The first received a devastating roundhouse kick to the ribs that drove him across the street and into a wall, and the other found himself grabbed by the shoulders and thrown right through the windshield of a nearby car.

As the leader managed to get to his feet, along with the man he had collided into, he stared at his two fallen comrades and yelled, "Get him!"

The six remaining gunman turned to attack me, foolishly leaving the Titans alone, and giving Robin more than the chance he needed.

"Titans, GO!" he yelled.

The five teens rushed from their hiding places to engage the criminals.

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On another rooftop, the far side of the street from where the swordsman had come from, was another stealthy figure. He sat and watched as his team was being decimated by the now regrouped Teen Titans.

Everything had gone perfectly, his team had entered the bank, hit the vaults, and then waited inside for his signal, when the Titans had arrived, he radioed in, informing the rest of his team as to their presence and positions, allowing them to strike with higher efficiency.

From there, he had coordinated the attack on the Titans, and it looked like they might win, but then that new person showed up, the one he'd never seen him before, he had caused enough damage to allow the Titans to fight back effectively.

They still didn't know that he was up on the roof, so he would use it to his advantage. He reached to his right where a powerful sniper rifle was resting. Looking through his scope he began to search for a clean target.

The leader, the short marshal artist, would be a good choice, but he was moving too much and presented a very difficult target.

The Half robot was too well armored, and he wasn't sure if the bullet could pierce into him.

The shape shifter was changing form too rapidly to get an effective shot off.

The swordsman, now that was one he wanted to shoot, but he had seen every bullet fired at him bounce harmlessly off an energy field of some sort, so that would be pointless.

The girl flinging explosive green orbs flew far too erratically to even try to get a leading shot off.

That left the one in the blue cloak, he watched her through the scope of his rifle, she was occupied at the moment lifting a bus to throw at a pair of his men, and was sitting perfectly still. She pivoted towards him as she telepathically threw the bus, and he sighted the rifle at the center of her chest.

It was a perfect shot; he squeezed the trigger.

BOOM

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I stood up from a heavy tackle that had knocked out yet another gunman, and looked around. Ever since my timely arrival, everything had been going well, I had distracted the gunman enough to allow the Titans to make an effective counter-attack.

It had still been a rough fight, but they were almost done. Only two of the men were still standing, and Raven was in the process of throwing a bus at them.

I stood and watched approvingly as she hurled the tour bus straight at them, using it as a clothesline to put them both on their backs, out cold. Her eyes faded from the glowing gray, back to normal.

My thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a loud crack, and the world seemed to enter slow motion. I instantly traced the sound, saw where the man was, and yelled out, "Raven, look out!"

But it was already too late, Raven spun to see the danger, her blue eyes widened as the bullet impacted in the center of her chest, blowing completely through her. The sheer impact of the round threw her across the road, bouncing her off the wall, where she slumped to the ground, bleeding heavily.

"Raven!" yelled Robin.


	6. Awakening part 5 final

Starfire spun, saw her friend laying on the ground injured, and turned to see the sniper atop the roof, "RRRaaauuuggghh," she screamed and unleashed a torrent of starbolts at him, blowing him off the top of the building.

Beast Boy shot forward as a pterodactyl and caught the falling thug, and dumped him in a pile with the rest of his team. Immediately he rushed over to join the rest of the Titans at Raven's side.

"How is she," Beast Boy asked.

Cyborg looked up from his knees, a tear in his human eye. "She's not doing

good." he mumbled, "He hit her lung."

"Oh," said Starfire worriedly, "She must make it, she must be ok. Please Raven, be ok."

"Yeah," Robin encouraged, "Hang in there, you're gonna be alright."

Raven's eyes seemed to become heavy, and her breath gurgled in her throat. It was obvious she was fading fast. Her chest heaved as she coughed, spewing up blood that flowed freely down her pale cheek.

The Titans looked at her, in a complete panic, they had known the danger when they became superheroes, but had never actually had something like this happen.

I stepped up behind them, shoving the group aside. "Move," I said firmly.

"What's the matter with you man?" yelled Cyborg, a tear welling up in his human eye, "Can't we be with her when she goes?"

"Sure ya can," I said calmly, my eyes narrowing "But she's not going today, if you would so kindly **give me some space**, I can help her."

The Titans obediently, albeit slightly confused, stepped away. I gently lifted her upper body off the ground with my left arm, and cradled it, then placed my right hand on her stomach.

My eyes closed for a moment, then reopened shining solid green. The glow spread to cover first my own body, and then also surrounded Raven.

Tendrils of green energy began to spread from my hands, and run across the young girl's body, they hesitated for a moment, and then plunged into the hole in her chest. The raw magical energy began to run through her veins.

Deep in Raven's mind, her different personalities had gathered.

"Come on girl," Green Raven said, "You're tough, you can beat this."

"Yeah," added Pink Raven cheerily, "You're gonna be just fine."

The Yellow Raven looked around at the rest of the emotions and stated, "Don't you ignoramuses comprehend what has happened? Raven has been shot through her lung, the bleeding is too great to be stopped, she has lost too much blood, and her heart is giving out from lack of oxygen as we speak; the probability of her surviving such an injury is less than point zero-zero-zero-one percent."

Gray Raven hugged her knees to her chest and sobbed, "I don't wanna die, I'm scared."

They all felt a disturbance around them, Raven's mindscape was beginning to collapse, the rocks and pillars crumbling as Raven continued to fade.

The sound of crumbling earth was quickly replaced with a different sound, the emotions looked up to see a rift open into Raven's mind, and emerald tendrils poured through it.

Green Raven tensed and prepared to go and attack this strange new arrival, but was stopped by Yellow Raven.

"Can't you pause for a moment and actually see what those things are doing before you go off and try to pummel them?"

Green Raven looked at Yellow Raven for a moment then looked back at the tendrils of energy, only to jump in surprise as she saw that the energy was actually repairing the mindscape.

Outside, in the real world, the Titans were witnessing a similar occurrence, the green energy flowed across Raven's body, inside her it repaired her lung, restructured the damaged tissue, jump started her heart back to a normal pace, formed into more blood to replace what she lost, and finally closed the hole in her skin. Raven's breathing stabilized, the pained look on her face relaxed into a much more peaceful state, and her head fell back against my shoulder.

My eyes faded back to their normal blue and I exhaled gently.

The Titans looked on in disbelief at Raven, wondering how just moments before, she had been dying, but was now completely healed; the only sign that she had been injured at all was the hole in her uniform, and the blood that stained it.

I reached under my armor, tore off a strip of my undershirt and used it to wipe the blood off of her face, then stood up, with one arm under Raven's shoulder, and the other under her knees.

"Raven will be…ok?" asked Starfire.

"Yeah," I replied, "She's going to be just fine."

"Umm," started Beast Boy, "H-how exactly did you do that?"

I looked at him, then said, "Long story short, the Mako OD gave me magical powers, including some that can heal, so I just healed her with them."

Cyborg looked at him amazed, "So you can just heal people, even though they are, like, mortally wounded?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess," I replied, "Even to the point that I can bring people back to life if they haven't been dead very long."

"That's just creepy," stated Beast Boy.

"Oh," I added, "There was also a…ummm…unexpected………side effect. I guess, the modern human is not used to having magical energy pumped into their bodies, it kinda overloaded her system and put her to sleep, she's going to be out for a while."

"In that case," said Cyborg, "Let's got her back to the tower and let her sleep. Come on, we'll take the T-car."

Robin looked up at the incoming police cars and news vans; it looked like the news vans were going to beat the police to the scene. "I'll wait around and explain the situation to the police, you guys get going, I'll meet you back at the tower."

"And I shall stay with Robin," stated Starfire, "In case he is in need of the rescue from the people of reporting again."

Cyborg walked over to the car and opened the back door so I could put Raven in there. I gently slid her into the seat, so she was lying down across the seat, then slid in and set her head in my lap.

Beast Boy hopped into the passenger seat, Cyborg hopped in and started up and drove off towards the tower.

Robin and Star then turned to face the police and reporters and prepared themselves for the imminent attack of questions.

"_In other news tonight, the Titans apprehended ten more criminals that were attempting to rob the Jump City National Bank. During the conflict between the criminals and our local heroes, one of the Titans, Raven, was injured severely. However, she was somehow healed by a tall mysterious newcomer that also fought against the criminals with the rest of the Titans. We do not have any footage of this person, and could not receive comment from Robin as to his identity, Or whether or not he is an active member of the Titans. Whatever the case may be, we will be sure to keep you all updated if he turns up again. This is April Langosta of the Jump City News Network, have a nice evening."_

Cyborg shut the Television off and sat back into the couch, Beast Boy, who was sitting next to him, looked at him and said, "I didn't see anyone with a camera at the scene before we left, how did they get that shot?"

"Come on BB," Cyborg replied, "You should know by now that the people from the JCNN can appear out of thin air, this isn't the first time they surprised us like this."

The main doors swished open and a very tired looking Robin and Starfire staggered in.

"I have observed that the people of reporting are more of the vicious and difficult to escape from than a rampaging Glork." Starfire said.

"Yeah," Robin added, "It got to the point that Star had to give me and the R-cycle an airlift just so we could get out of there. Um……..where's Raven and Chris?"

"Well, I wanted to put Raven in the med ward until she woke up, but Chris insisted that wasn't necessary. He took her to her room instead, and I think he's going to stay there and wait for her to wake up.

Robin took on a rather worried look. "You did tell him about the dangers of being in Raven's room right?"

"I did," said Beast Boy, "But he didn't seem to care."

"Well," said Robin, "God help him if Raven wakes up mad."

Raven's blue eyes slid open, and she blinked a few times to clear her vision. She found herself staring at the familiar ceiling of her room. She shook her head a few times as though trying to bring her self back to reality. Reopened her eyes, and seemed shocked to be in her room. "How did I get here?" she thought out loud.

"Easy, I carried you."

Raven jumped and sat up in her bed, a little too fast as she seemed to be hit with an intense spell of dizziness, and collapsed back to her bed. I stood up from my chair and walked over and leaned over her bed, "Easy Raven," I said, "Don't try to sit up so fast."

In the darkness of her room, she probably couldn't make out too many of my features, but I'm sure my glowing eyes gave me away since she looked straight at them and jumped in surprise, again.

She slowly lowered her head and, with my help, sat up, "I'm sorry, I guess I'm just not used to eyes that glow in the dark yet." Ha, I'd heard that one enough, I definitely understood it.

Suddenly, it must have occurred to her, someone was in her room, presumably tampering with her stuff. Her eyes glared at me and glowed gray, "Out of…my…" she trailed off as I looked on curiously.

Her eyes scanned her room to see that nothing had been touched, only a small chair sat at the foot of her bed, one that I had carried in.

"They told me that you don't like having people mess with your stuff, so I didn't touch anything."

Raven looked at me in wonder, and then said, "What…happened to me? I remember we were fighting those criminals, I threw a bus at two of them, then I heard someone yell, turned to see who it was, then felt this cold pain in my chest, I hit a wall, then…nothing."

"I'll keep it short, you got shot by a sniper, he was coordinating the other men you were fighting, that's how they were so effective. I used some of my magic to heal you, the power overloaded your system and knocked you out, so we brought you back here."

"How long have I been out?" she asked.

"Oh, not too long, only about three hours."

She looked down at herself to see that she was still wearing her damaged uniform, complete with bullet hole and blood stains, however, her cloak had been removed, she looked around, and saw it folded over the back of my chair.

She blinked a few times as though her mind was still attempting to sort out what had just happened. Then she looked back at me, "Robin will want to know I'm awake, so if you'll excuse me, I need to change."

I nodded, and walked towards the door, Raven followed me over. As I stepped out the door and was about to close it behind me I heard Raven's voice behind me.

"Oh, and Chris?" I turned to face her, "Thanks." She shut her door. I turned away, smiling slightly, and walked towards the main room, thought better of it, and decided to wait for Raven.

The doors to the main room swished open, as Raven and I stepped in. Everyone looked over at us from where they sat on the center couch engrossed over their latest video game.

"Raven," called Robin, "Good, you're awake."

Cyborg elbowed Robin, rather hard, "What I think he means is 'how are you feeling'."

Raven looked around, as deadpan as ever, "I'm ok."

She was immediately cut off by a Tameranian blur that caught her in a dive-hug, "I am so happy that you are better of the feeling, I was frightened that your life force had been prematurely terminated!" Star exclaimed.

I couldn't help but notice the slight blue tint coming to Raven's face as she gasped, "Air!"

"Oh…sorry." Starfire let go of her choking friend and stepped back, then she looked over at me. One thought hit my mind, 'uh oh.'

Star pounced, wrapping me in a crushing hug. For such a small built person, she was much stronger than me. I put my arms around her, returning the hug, but also in an attempt to lift her arms up to my shoulders so I could breathe again.

That was a mistake; returning her hug only caused her to squeeze harder, cutting off my air supply completely.

"ThankyouChrisforsavingfriendRavenfromthebadmeanieandhisrifleofthesnipering."

Cyborg must have read the look in my eyes, because he walked up, and tapped Starfire on the shoulder. "Uh sorry to interrupt Star, but I think Chris would like to breathe now." he whispered into her ear

"A thousand apologies," yelped Starfire, letting go of me and jumping back.

I sucked down air like a drug, desperately attempting to catch my breath. Once I had control over myself once again, I smirked and said, "Wow, remind me never to get that girl angry, if she squeezes that hard when she's happy, I'd hate to see what happened to me if I managed to get her mad."

The whole team…minus Raven, laughed at that remark, but I did manage to get a slight smirk out of her. The laughter faded slowly into a slightly awkward silence; that is, until Raven broke it.

"Don't we have something to discuss?"

"Yeah," replied Robin, "Chris I need to talk to you for a minute."

"I'm listening."

"Today you showed a definite sign of heroism, you threw yourself into the line of fire without regard for yourself, just to help some people you barely knew. You fought selflessly, and even saved one of us. What I'm trying to get at is…we were wondering if…you wanted to join the Titans."


	7. A Day on the Town

The next day dawned bright and clear, and I stood on the shores of the island, basking in the warmth of the sun.

I inhaled deeply, then as I exhaled, I drew my sword from its clamp. I readied myself, hefting the weight of the blade, and 'attacked'. I drove, slashed, parried, and thrust against an invisible enemy.

I spun the blade in every possible way, reacquainting myself with my sword's true uses. I continued this exercise for 10 minutes.

When I stopped, panting slightly, I decided to try something I hadn't done since the Wutai War; I squeezed tightly on the hilt, as my eyes flickered green. Water flowed across the blade, I spun it a few times experimentally, and the water flowed right with the blade.

I resumed my mock battle, now with a sword bearing a water enchantment.

After two minutes of this, my eyes flickered again; the sword froze, encased in an icy shield.

I watched, pleased, as a trail of frozen air followed my sword's every move.

Another two minutes passed, and another flicker of my eyes brought electricity arcing across the blade, leaving its destructive trail everywhere it went.

After two more minutes, I paused, then released yet another enchantment, flames erupted from the blade, dancing around and smoking violently. I worked with a flaming sword for two minutes, and then dispelled the magic.

I looked down at the blade, then out at the eastern ocean, and smiled.

I knew with this enchantment, I would only be able to swing the sword once, so I had to hit something, if I wanted to see the results.

I focused on the power deep inside me, found what I wanted and pressed it into my sword. It began to sparkle, shine, and even began to waver, like super-heated air does.

I turned to face the ocean, lifted the sword above my head, then brought it down; the blade pierced the water, and then struck the ground underneath. With an apocalyptic roar that shook the entire island, pure destructive energy was released. It plowed through the ocean, parting it down to the bottom for a little over a mile.

I exhaled and stood there panting, casting Ultima was hard enough in and of itself, but focusing and containing that much power in my sword was rough.

I suddenly noticed a slight, stunned sound from behind me, "Whoa."

I spun around to see the rest of the Titans gathered on top of some of the rocks by the beach.

"Um," I said scratching the back of my head, "How long have you guys been standing there?"

Robin looked at the sword, the finally settling ocean, and me, "Long enough to see you make you sword do all sorts of bizarre things, and part the ocean."

I grinned sheepishly, reclamping the sword to my back.

Beast Boy finally came out of shock, "Dude, that was awesome, was that more of you magic?"

I shrugged, "yeah, it was."

Robin suddenly stopped looking out at the ocean, and looked straight at me, "Wait, if you can do all that with your sword, why didn't you use it last night?"

I looked at my feet sighing, "If I remembered right, you wanted to capture those men, not kill them, all the offensive magic I have is lethal. In SOLDIER, we were the elites, we didn't have time to waste with prisoners, that was the regular troops problem, we were trained to kill with our weapons, not apprehend. So, I will not draw my sword to fight as long as you want them alive." My voice had a slightly regretful tone to it that, I hoped anyway, was missed by the Titans.

Beast Boy shuddered slightly, I looked over at him questioningly. "Sorry, but I'm still trying to get used to the idea that you, at your age, have already been through a war."

I smirked, "Yeah, well, I'm still trying to get used to the crazy ways of this time period."

Our conversation was abruptly cut off as Robin's communicator started beeping, and he flipped it open, "Yes?"

"Robin, this is Commissioner Rodriguez, we need you down at the station, one of the men you captured last night is talking, a lot. You may want to hear this."

"Alright I'll be right there," he flipped the communicator shut, "Guys, I have to head out to the station, go ahead and go to the pizza parlor like we were planning to, I'll meet you up there as soon as possible."

Robin took off at a full run for the R-cycle, and we all followed at a slower pace, headed for the T-car.

I sat in the back of the T-car, riding along, Beast Boy was on the far side of the backseat, and Starfire had squeezed herself in between us. Raven was sitting shotgun, and naturally, Cyborg was driving.

It was a little cramped in the back seat, this was by no means the fault of my company, both Beast Boy and Starfire are small in frame, so they don't take up much room.

But, the fact that I'm six feet tall really doesn't help me fit in the backseat of a car. I was curled up in a little ball.

My sword obviously was too big to fit in the car, so Cyborg had been forced to strap it to the roof.

I was really missing my motorcycle then, and had decided that I wanted, no HAD to rebuild the thing.

We arrived at the pizza parlor, and Cyborg put the T-car into a controlled slide that sent us into a series of wild doughnuts across the parking lot, only to slide cleanly into a parking spot.

A suddenly squeamish Raven glared at him, "Must you do that?"

Cyborg just smirked. We all piled out of the car, me quite thankfully.

I stood up stretching my legs, then looked up at the tall building in front of us with one resounding question in my mind: 'what the heck is pizza?' I followed them in quietly, then joined them around their usual table on top of the roof, and the great topping debate began.

Beast Boy opened the floor with his usual declaration, "We're getting a Veggie Pizza right?"

"No way man," countered Cyborg, "You cannot deny me my meat!"

"I told you before" complained Beast Boy, "I've been most of those animals!"

And so it went, I drifted off into my thoughts, looking at the cityscape, only half listening.

Starfire had interjected at some point, something to do with mustard mint topping.

I didn't input anything, mainly because I still didn't have a clue what pizza was.

After nearly fifteen minutes of arguing, they settled on two large pizzas, one half veggie, half pepperoni, (at Raven's request…and threat of pain and/or gruesome death).

The other was going to have nearly every topping imaginable, minus something called anchovies.

Cyborg was about to place the order, when he stopped and looked at me, "Wait a minute, you didn't say anything about what you wanted."

I bit my lip and looked at the ground, "Uh, I've never, um, had…pizza, I don't even know what it is."

All four of their jaws dropped open, "You've never had pizza before?" asked Beast Boy.

I shook my head.

"Man are you in for a treat."

Cyborg placed the order, then turned to look back at me, "So, what exactly did you eat back in your time."

I shrugged, "Mostly military rations, ya know, a highly nutritional paste that tastes a lot like glue… But whenever we were on a monster hunt, some of them were good to eat, so we'd cook 'em up and eat 'em."

The Titans all gave me varying looks of shock and disgust.

"Really, Ruby Dragon was my favorite though, it tasted really good."

Beast Boy looked away, "meat…disgusting."

Cyborg looked thoughtful for a moment, "What did ruby dragon taste like?"

"I really wouldn't know how to describe it, I've never actually had anything else quite like it. All I can tell is that I know about 100 different ways to cook it. Cuz you get a LOT of meat from one of 'em."

We stopped talking as the pizza arrived. Everyone grabbed for their choice, my gloved hands went for the 'loaded' pizza that Cy had ordered.

I took a first bite experimentally, then proceeded to eat the rest of the slice happily. I ate slowly, enjoying the taste, until I realized that in the time it took me to eat one slice, Cyborg had eaten three.

I immediately began to eat as fast as I could so that I could actually get my fill. It got to the point that even after everyone had stopped eating; me and Cy ordered another pizza.

At about that time, Robin showed up, and joined us; he pulled up a chair and joined me and Cyborg eating the extra pizza.

When we had finished, Robin began to explain what had happened at the police station. "The ringleader of the men we took down last night leaked out some interesting information. Most of what he said was incoherent babbling, but I picked up something about the Tri-County Theatre. It's a lead I can't just let go, so I told Commissioner Rodriguez that we would send a Titan undercover there to see what we could learn. That only leaves us with the question of who to send; I can't go, I'll be needed to help monitor that situation."

Cyborg looked around at all the Titans, "Man, all of us are too recognizable, we can't do undercover work."

Robin smirked, "All of us except Chris, the media hasn't been able to catch up with him yet, no one knows who he is. Besides, I think he could use a little fieldwork. What do ya say?"

They all looked right at me, and I got this bizarre feeling that I really didn't have a choice anymore, so I agreed.


	8. Shadow

I sat in my makeshift room, thinking of what had just happened. The room was sparsely furnished, consisting of a simple twin bed, a dresser, a small table, and a closet. It was simple, very plain, but I liked it.

I had joined the Titans, of course I was on some kind of probationary status, so to me the only thing that had really changed was that I now carried around one of their communicators.

Robin had complimented me on my selflessness, but it really wasn't that. I was a SOLDIER, for me throwing myself into enemy fire was all in a day's work. Besides, they can't kill me.

I'm already dead, not literally of course, but figuratively. Everything I had known, fought for, and…loved; was all gone. I have nothing left to lose, so why worry about death.

I don't know why I said yes, maybe it was my reflex from the years as a SOLDIER always looking for a new mission, maybe I just wanted to fight again so that I could feel alive, or maybe, I don't know. Whatever the reason, I had joined and I was in. No turning back now.

I looked over at the clock; it was late enough that the Titans probably assumed I was asleep for the night. I walked over to my window that had been left open, so that I wouldn't set off any alarms by opening it in the middle of the night, and climbed out.

I walked silently through the city streets, keeping my head down so I wouldn't draw any attention to myself, or more accurately, my eyes.

I simply strolled along, lost in my thoughts of home, when they were interrupted by the sounds of a scuffle.

I stuck my head around a corner to see two men backing out of a small store, both with large burlap bags, and a 9 millimeter pistol. I reached behind my back for my sword, only to realize that I had left it back in the tower, so I wouldn't draw any attention. I rolled my eyes, and took on a new tactic. I cast darkness about myself, blending in with the shadows.

My mako eyes adjusted, piercing the darkness, I could see them, but they couldn't see me.

The two men turned from the storefront and ran towards a waiting vehicle, right at me.

I stepped into their path and as they reached me I dropped the magical cloak and clothes- lined them both.

The two thugs hit the ground, but not quite hard enough.

They both dropped their bags, but came back to their feet and leveled their guns at me.

Now reacting on instinct, I cast a micro sized version of Demi in front of me; the miniature black hole sucked their guns right out of their hands, and compacted them into oblivion.

The two men looked at their hands shocked, but I was already in motion.

I hit one of them with a two-handed palm strike to the chest with enough force that he flew through the front of their getaway car.

The other reached behind his back and produced a switchblade. Snickt, the blade flipped out.

I looked at him, then at the blade, and smirked.

He rushed me, blade help upright in his right hand, and the world went into slow motion.

I brought my hands up and struck the flat of the knife with my left, and his wrist with my right, rolling his wrist around, to bury the blade of his knife deep into his left thigh.

He howled in pain as I followed through with a roundhouse kick that put him through the front of their getaway car as well. Two up, two down.

I looked around, then picked up the two large bags of money and walked back towards the shop. I stopped at the front of the store to see a shopkeeper, a lady about his age, and a young girl, gathered together crying.

As gently as I could I walked over to them, and tapped the shopkeeper on the shoulder.

He looked up at me through tear-stained eyes, and I held out the bags, "I believe these belong to you."

His jaw fell open as he looked at me in wonder.

"You can tell the police that outside is a black Honda Civic that has a busted in windshield, that was the getaway car, and the two men are inside it. But one of them stuck himself in the leg with his knife for some reason, so he might need an ambulance."

I handed him the bags and turned to leave, but felt his hand grab my wrist. I stopped and turned to face him.

"Sir…you saved everything we have, if there's anything we can do for you, please let us know."

His entire family nodded in agreement.

I looked around the store, and saw a rack of sunglasses, and thought about my glowing eyes, something like that would help me fit right in here among all these people.

I stepped over to the sunglass rack and started to look through them. The storeowner stepped up next to me as I found a pair I liked, black framed wrap-arounds, with mirrored lenses.

I looked over to him, "How much are these?"

He just looked at me, "For you sir, they are free, please don't try to argue, it's the least I could possibly do."

I was about to object, but his words made me change my mind; he was just trying to pay me back for helping him.

I smiled gratefully and handed him the sunglasses, which he removed the tags from and handed back to me. I slipped the sunglasses on, hiding my eyes.

My mako enhanced vision instantly compensated for the darkness that the sunglasses created, allowing me to see as if I wasn't even wearing them.

The shopkeeper looked at me again, and said, "Is there anything else we can do for you?"

I thought for a moment then replied, "Actually yes, could you 'forget' what I looked like, sounded like, or anything like that? If they ask just say I stayed in the shadows so you never got a good look at me. Could you do that for me?"

The shopkeeper smiled at me, "Of course sir, as far as we will 'remember' you were just a shadow."

"Thank you." I turned to walk out the store, when I felt a small hand grab mine. I looked down to see the young girl standing there looking up at me bashfully,

"Mister, are you a superhero?"

I smiled at her, "No, I'm just a shadow, trying to make a difference." With that, I walked back out into the streets, vanishing into the gathering crowd.

'Shadow, I like it, all the rest of the Titans have their "hero names," Shadow…yeah.'

Still smiling, I began to walk in the direction of the tower.


	9. Theatre Stakeout Part 1

I stood in the garage underneath Titans Tower, looking down at my new clothes, black jeans, a white T-shirt, and a black leather jacket, and my usual gloves; it felt weird going into a potential combat situation without my armor on, but I at least had it with me. I picked up my bag, and slung it my shoulder.

I looked around the garage; it had been my favorite place to hang out for the past three weeks since Robin had given me my assignment, mainly because of the project that had filled those weeks.

I walked over to the finished result, my mako bike, rebuilt in all its black and chrome glory, sat facing the exit, I strapped my bag across the back of the bike, slid my sword into its concealed sheathe, then stood there gently running my hands over the smooth surface of the bike.

I heard a faint sound behind me, and turned around quickly to see the Titans standing there watching me.

My hands instantly dropped from petting my bike, and I tucked them behind my back.

"I see you're about ready to leave," said Robin.

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Beast Boy snorted. An elbow jabbed him in the side, silencing him.

"Yeah, I am."

"Remember, learn all you can, but don't act without contacting me before hand."

"Alright, sounds fair enough."

He offered his hand, and I took it shaking it firmly.

Cyborg stepped up, and held up his fist, and I punched it casually, "Take care man,"

"Later dude," said Beast Boy stepping up and giving me a high-five.

Raven offered her hand, and I shook it too, "Yeah, don't get killed." I chuckled at that one.

Starfire gave me a light hug as she said, "Do complete your assignment and return home with all haste, I look forward to sharing with you a traditional Tameranian welcoming of coming home pudding."

I grinned and swung my leg over the bike. I hit the ignition and the machine roared to life with a very familiar sound. I waved one last time, then drove out of the garage.

After I had gone, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Cyborg wandered off, leaving Raven and Robin alone.

Raven looked out the doorway, then at Robin, "Are you sure this is a good idea, sending him on a potentially dangerous mission, without backup, within three weeks of his becoming a Titan?"

The Boy Wonder looked at her, "Raven, it's a blank lead, I made the whole thing up, this is more of a test, just to see how good he is at finding information; there is no real danger."

The wind kicked at my short brown hair as I roared down the highway on my motorcycle, it felt so good to be out, just me, my motorcycle, and the road.

I had cleared the suspension bridge leading out of town about a half hour ago, and was headed for the Tri-County Theatre, that was about another 3 minutes away. As I rode, I thought back about the past weeks, I had already learned much about the Titans:

Robin was obviously a workaholic, and totally obsessed with training, but all the Titans looked up to him, he had been a superhero since before any of them had even thought about using their powers to help people.

Cyborg was the team mechanic, and one of the more emotionally stable of any of them.

Beast Boy was like everyone's little brother, he could be annoying at times, especially to Raven. There are many times that they would like to kill him, again especially Raven, but they would all kill for him.

Raven is a mystery, she keeps to herself, and won't talk about herself either, I really don't know much about her.

Starfire on the other hand is like an open book, she doesn't hide her emotions in the least. But the fact that she is alien to this planet still makes her a mystery, all her efforts are to learn as much as possible about earth, or as it's called in the rest of the universe, Terra Firma.

We really don't know too much about her native culture, only that it is highly food oriented; they seem to have a food for every occasion, mourning, happiness, friendship, returning friends, and anything else under the sun.

Robin is her nearly constant companion; he does his best to teach her the…bizarre ways of this planet. I can easily tell that Star likes him, but I think that Robin sees her as almost a younger sister, someone he must protect and teach, it's very confusing between the two of them often.

I snapped out of my thoughts as I saw the theatre emerge from the forest s I rounded another bend: it was a tall, impressive looking building, complete with massive gothic arches, pillars, and a guard of gargoyles. It looked really out of place to be sitting here in the middle of a forest, but it was quite impressive nonetheless.

I roared up the entrance of the theatre, and put my bike into a slide that brought it skidding to a stop right in front of the steps to the main doors.

I swung off my bike, as the internal gyros kicked in stabilizing it so it would stand alone without a kickstand.

I straightened my jacket and sunglasses, then walked up to the massive doors, before I knocked I couldn't help but to look up and admire the height of the doors, they stood well over 12 feet tall, and appeared to be made of solid oak.

I reached out and knocked, the booms echoed through the building, then slowly faded to silence, I was about to knock again when a smaller door off to the side cracked open, and a young female face poked out.

"Hello sir, can I help you with something?"

"Yes, my name is Joshua Anderson, I'd like to talk to the manager or owner of this theatre please."

"May I ask as to your business?"

I smiled warmly, "Financial business, to the benefit of this theatre."

She blinked a few times, then opened the door the rest of the way, "Please come in."

I stepped through the door and looked around, the lobby was enormous, and in the process of being decorated for the play to be shown, Phantom of the Opera. I turned to face my host. She was probably in her mid teens, was about as tall as my shoulders, had shoulder length brown hair, and matching brown eyes. She smiled pleasantly.

"Wait here please Mr. Anderson, I'll go and get Miss Harcourt." She said, then turned and ran up a set of steps.

I stood patiently, waiting for her return. I took a deep breath, then let it out; I was only eighteen, but I was going to have to pass off for considerably older, this should be fun.

I turned to face the steps as I heard two pair of footsteps on them.

The young girl was walking next to an elegant looking lady, she was a little taller than the first girl, had long blonde hair, and deep blue eyes. She stepped up gracefully, as the first girl stepped between us.

"Mr. Anderson, this is Emily Harcourt; Miss Harcourt, Joshua Anderson."

Miss Harcourt extended her hand, and I took it, she had a surprisingly firm grip, so I returned it. "It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Anderson."

"No, the pleasure is all mine."

She looked over at the young girl, "Thank you Amber."

'Amber' nodded, and walked over to the side of the lobby to let the two of us talk alone.

Miss Harcourt looked back at me, "Amber tells me you are here for some financial reason?"

"Yes," I replied, "You'll have to let me explain, I have been a fan of theatre for a long time, and have wanted for a while to be able to help support this passion of mine. I am no actor, or director, so the only way I could possibly help is financially. I am engaged in a business that trades in precious materials, such as gold, silver, and diamond. I now have the means to be able to fulfill my wish. I only recently moved to Jump City, and decided to come out to this theatre, just to see if it could be beneficial if I were to assist it."

Miss Harcourt was silent for a moment, as if pondering my story. She then spoke, "I assure you sir, any donation you made to help this theatre would be greatly appreciated."

I nodded, "Would there be any chance a tour of this place could be available?"

She nodded, "Of course, are you by any chance planning to attend the opening performance in two days?"

"I wouldn't miss it."

"I have an idea for you sir, rather than force you to travel to and fro so many times, would you like to stay in the theatre? It would not only save you the trip, but also give you the opportunity to truly see how this theatre is operated. The room we have is not as nice as your average hotel, but it would give you the experience of being in the theatre.

I smiled, knowing exactly what she was doing. She was trying to impress 'Mr. Anderson' by giving him a place to stay, letting him watch the goings of the theatre for a few days. "That would be wonderful Miss Harcourt."

She smiled back faintly, "Mr. Anderson, please just call me Emily."

"Very well, on one condition, you call me Joshua."

"Of course."

At that moment, the doors to the main auditorium burst open and a rather frazzled-looking stagehand stepped out, "Miss Harcourt we need you in here, now."

I listened for a moment, and heard a female voice ranting and raving something about her costume having not been washed with the right detergent.

Miss Harcourt looked at me tentatively as though expecting a look of distaste; instead, I burst out laughing.

She blinked a few times as though confused, until I finally spoke, "You have my sympathies Emily, good luck, would you like me to wait here?"

She sighed, apparently quite relieved, "Actually, Amber, could you show Joshua to the spare room, then show him around the theatre? I have a disgruntled actor to calm down."

Amber nodded, "This way please, Mr. Anderson."

I followed quietly, but watching everything around me. We walked through the backstage area, up a few flights of stairs, then eventually came to a stop at the top.

Amber opened a door, revealing a room that sat on top of the entire theatre, giving me a view of all the land around it. The room was, by modern terms, sparsely furnished, but in my terms, it was all I needed.

There was a single cot in the corner, a dresser off to the side, and a small table and chair near one of the windows.

I walked in, looking around, "Yeah, this'll do, quite nicely. Oh, by the way, your name is Amber right?"

Amber smiled happily, "Yes, Amber Rose. Well, I'll leave you here to get settled in, can you find your way back to the lobby?"

I smiled back, "No problem."

"Ok, I'll meet you down there when you are ready for your tour."

"Alright, see ya then."

Amber stepped out the door, and I turned around and opened my bag. In order to keep the fact that I was on a covert operation, I had left my communicator at the tower. In its place was a powerful laptop that I had purchased with the money I had made from selling some of the jewels I had brought with me from the past.

Naturally, Cyborg had upgraded it considerably; it had a constant connection to the Tower's mainframe that would work as long I stayed inside the galaxy. I set it on the desk, and then set my bag that contained nothing else but clothes on the dresser.

I sat down at the desk chair, opened and powered up my laptop. I sent a single quick message to the tower, '_I'm in.'_


	10. Theatre Stakeout Part 2

Amber led me off down a side hallway giving me the grand tour of the theatre; she went on with an official speech that sounded remarkably well rehearsed.

Every so far she would stop and point something out to me like, "And this is the rapier that Tybalt used in our 2000 performance of Romeo and Juliet."

I only half listened, recording all the information in my mind just in case I may someday need it.

The other half of me surveyed the entire theatre like the soldier I was, but nothing appeared, even to a magical scan.

She finished her tour and turned to look at me, "Was there anything else you'd like to see Mr. Anderson?"

"Actually Miss Rose, if it isn't too much trouble could I sit in on a rehearsal? I'd like to see how practices are done here."

She nodded, "Of course, oh, and please just call me Amber."

I smirked and leaned forward, bringing myself to eye level with her, "I'm not going to stop calling you Miss Rose, until you stop calling me Mr. Anderson; call me Josh."

She burst into a giggle, then clapped her hands over her mouth to suppress it, then quickly regained her composure, "Ok, Josh…This way please."

I followed her in, and sat down near the middle of the auditorium. I 'watched' quietly, but actually looked for anything suspicious. I found nothing, so I continued to watch the rehearsal.

They were almost finished when some movement caught my eyes. I locked in on it, a slender shadow moving gracefully across the top of a light bar.

I made quick note of its movement and cat-like agility, as well as the basic feminine figure, and, I assumed, her hair curved in a bizarre U-shape. As quickly as the shape had appeared, it vanished entirely.

I continued to sit calmly through the last bit of the rehearsal, as though I hadn't seen anything.

The director finally stopped the cast, and dismissed them. They quickly scattered from the stage to get back to their rooms, they had one more day to practice, then it was the performance day.

I quickly took my leave from Amber, using the excuse that I had some business to attend to, and headed for my room.

I sat down, logged on to my computer, and opened a new email, sending my days findings. The only remarkable thing to report was the strange shadow I had seen.

I was about to log off when the sound of an instant message popped up along with a familiar screen name.

**Kak159: Hey there, you're on late.**

I smiled, happy to hear from her, and typed a response.

**S1st018: Hi, yeah, been busy today**

**Kak159: Watcha been doin'?**

It took me a moment to come up with a good response.

**S1st018: I'm workin' backstage at a theatre.**

**Kak159: What play? Where?**

**S1st018: Phantom of the Opera, at the Tri-County Theatre.**

**Kak159: Which is…where?**

**S1st018: Just outside Jump City**

**Kak159: Cool, I'd come see it if I wasn't stuck out here in Kansas.**

I laughed at that remark.

**Kak159: So…you live in Jump City?**

**S1st018: Yeah y?**

**Kak159: Ever seen the Teen Titans?**

I stared at the screen for a moment while I came up with an answer.

**S1st018: Better question, who in Jump City hasn't?**

**Kak159: lol, so are the rumors true?**

**S1st018: huh what?**

**Kak159: Ya know, the rumors of a sixth Titan, one that the media can't catch up to yet?**

**S1st018: lol, I don't know about him being a Titan, but there is a new vigilante in town, calls himself "The Shadow"**

**Kak159: Any idea why the news doesn't know anything?**

**S1st018: Apparently he never hangs around to be seen, I only know about him cuz I saw him in action once. He took out a few guys that were holding up a convenience store.**

**Kak159: cool! What was he like?**

**S1st018: I never got a good look at him, all I could tell was; tall, short hair, strong.**

**Kak159: o, ok**

**S1st018: Ok, now you're one up on me Kara, you know where I live, you owe me.**

**Kak159: Not tellin'.**

**S1st018: oh really?**

**Kak159: yup really**

**S1st018: yeah…sure**

**Kak159: Please, I live in the middle of Kansas, not much of a chance you'll ever hear of it.**

**S1st018: Riiiiiight.**

**Kak159: HEY! It's called SMALLVILLE! You really think you'll ever find some place like that?**

**S1st018: well, there we go, now I have the name, ha ha ha**

**Kak159: That…was…cheap.**

**S1st018: O well, so you're a country girl huh?**

**Kak159: Yeah, but now I have to go and milk a cow while I sulk that you managed to trick me…again.**

**S1st018: ha, talk to ya later Kara.**

**Kak159: Bye Chris.**

**Kak159 has signed off**

I leaned back in my chair smiling; I had met Kara online about two weeks ago, and we had hit it off quickly, we chatted a lot now.

I don't know why I made friends with her; maybe I just wanted to have a friend outside of the Tower, and outside the city. Regardless, she had helped me feel better, as usual.

My computer chirped at me, informing me I had a new email; it was from Robin.

_Mr. Anderson,_

_Nice job with the reconnaissance, keep your eyes open, but if you think you have found something, do not act until you receive a confirmation from me._

_Robin_

Right, so if I find something…don't do anything about it…this should be good.

I stood from my chair, flipped the laptop closed, then looked out the window, it was dark out, probably near midnight. I shut off the lights, changed into my armor, and swapped my classy looking 'Mr. Anderson' shades for the sleek ones I wore in action.

I slipped over to the window, climbed out, and worked my way down the side of the building. After four hours of scouting the surrounding area, I began to doubt whether or not I was going to find anything.

I was about to return to the theatre when I heard a very faint sound; I dropped low to the ground and crept into the forest towards the sound.

I reached the edge of a small clearing and saw a single young girl squatting in the grass talking into a hexagonal radio.

"Yes, I'm sure no one saw me," she was saying, she had a soft voice, very controlled.

A rather grating, somewhat childlike voice came through the radio, "So we're go for the operation?"

"Of course," she sat back on her heels and holstered the radio. Her back remained to me, so I still couldn't get too good of a look at her, but the U-shaped hair gave her dead away, the same shadow I had seen in the theatre.

I had heard all I was going to, so I slipped back into the woods, heading for the theatre.

I had just finished changing back into my normal clothes as the sun was finally clearing the horizon; I heard a soft knock on the door.

"Mr. Ander…Josh? Are you awake?"

"Come on in Amber."

The brunette opened the door timidly, and I stood up from my cot after finishing tying my last shoe.

"How are you this morning?" I asked.

Her face brightened immediately, "I'm good, how are you?"

"Ready for another day."

"That's good, I'm here because Miss Harcourt requested that you join her for breakfast."

"Ok, where to?"

"Out on the back porch, I'll take you there."

"Lead the way."

She started down the hall, with me following; we were quiet the entire way. As we stepped out onto the back porch, I saw Miss Harcourt waiting at a small table.

"Good morning Emily, how are you today?" I said, walking towards the table.

"I'm doing quite well Joshua, how are you?

"I'm good."

I sat down across the table from her as a stagehand walked up with our food.

To be honest, I really took no notice of what we were eating; I was far too involved in the conversation we were having, just talking about the play, the actors, the bizarre personality quirks that the stars of every show always seem to have.

As we were talking, I had a sudden thought hit me: that girl in the forest had mentioned an 'operation' of some sort…I wonder…

"So Emily, how big of a turnout are you expecting tomorrow night?"

"We are completely sold out, and since tomorrow is opening night, we have a lot of big names coming. A few big military guys, corporate big wigs, all the way up to Bruce Wayne himself."

"That's really quite impressive," I replied, and then thought, 'That is a lot of the rich and famous, can anyone say hostages?' I believed I was beginning to figure it out. There was nothing inside the theatre of illegal value, but I had just stumbled into something far more sinister.

It made perfect sense, send in a scout to get a feel for the area, picking out key strike points, and size up security; then on opening night, ambush the audience, and hold them all for ransom. I knew that I now had to wait around for the performance, then try and get the Titans to counter-ambush the ambushers.

Following this realization, I finished my breakfast early, then excused myself under the pretense of having to go and get in touch with some business partners, and headed for my room.

I quickly typed up a report, and sent it straight to Robin's communicator, just to make sure he got it immediately. I waited around for a half hour, and got no reply.

'Ok, what's up with this?' I thought, unless I heard from them soon, this could be a little rougher than I expected. I had to rethink my strategy.

The remainder of the day passed quickly, I watched more rehearsals, toured the backstage area, then returned to my room.

I tried one more time to call Robin, still no response. So I again donned my combat armor, and jumped out the window. I slipped quietly to my motorcycle, and drew my sword from its hidden compartment, smirking slightly as I watched it sparkle in the moonlight.

I slung the holster and sword on to my back and slid away into the night


	11. Theatre Stakeout Part 3

Theater Stakeout

Part 3

I crept silently through the woods, again in search of the mysterious scout. I needed more information; I had to know what I was up against.

It didn't take me long to find the clearing she had been in last night, no sign of her. I crept in carefully, looking for clues, or anything that might be of value, again, nothing.

I heard a twig snap behind me, and felt a tingle run the length of my spine, I reflexively hit the deck, to see a bizarre pink wave ripple over my head.

I rolled to my feet and faced the intruder.

It was definitely the scout; her features were now clearly illuminated by the moonlight.

She had a petite figure, was dressed in a black and purple jumpsuit, had pink U-shaped hair, and very unusual cat-slit pink eyes.

"Who the heck are you?" she demanded.

I rolled my eyes, "Just a Shadow, and you might be?" I smirked calmly.

She glared at me, "The name's Jinx darlin', remember it, it's the last name you'll ever hear."

Moving with surprising speed, she jumped at me, sending a platform shoe at my head.

I ducked the strike, counter-attacking with a heavy punch. Which she in turn blocked expertly, leaving my chest completely exposed. She giggled lightly, then slammed her palm into my chest throwing me backwards into a tree.

I shook my head to clear it, and looked up to see the bottom of a platform shoe flying at my head.

I ducked instantly, allowing her foot to hit the tree instead of me. Acting on pure reflex, I reached up and grabbed her ankle, then rotated my body and threw her over my shoulder.

Her eyes went wide as she flew through the air, straight into a different tree.

She hit the ground, rolled, and stood up to her feet…smiling?

"Wow, that actually hurt a little, this is almost gonna be as much fun as the last time I fought with the Titans."

So that's why I recognized the name Jinx, I'd read about her and the rest of HIVE in the towers archives. I dropped into a combat stance, "Come get it."

She took the invitation to fight in a very strange way, by jumping up off the tree behind her, and coming at my in a kick flip. I rolled to the side to dodge her strike, spinning around at the same time sweeping her legs out form under her.

Impossibly, she rolled the fall into a cartwheel, pivoted in midair, and kicked me in the ribs as I was standing up.

I staggered back a step from the impact, then twisted around quickly and drove my knee into the small of her back, she cried out as she was thrown at yet another tree.

Frantically she flipped her hands out and let loose a stream of pink waves at the tree, causing it to explode.

The force of it slowed her down enough to let her pivot around in mid air, kick off the tree and send a burst of the pink stuff at my feet.

I jumped back to avoid the burst, but the resultant explosion of dirt threw me backwards.

As I slid to a stop on all fours, I looked up to see a flash of pink, then a tree falling towards me. I instantly drew my sword and braced myself for impact.

BOOM, the tree hit the ground kicking up a cloud of dust, as Jinx stood up bearing a cheshire-cat grin.

A flash of metal split the dust and I charged out of it sword drawn back to strike.

Her smile instantly vanished as she jumped to the left, but let loose a yelp as the tip of my blade flashed past her eyes.

She quickly rolled to her feet and cupped a hand across her cheek to find a thin line of blood.

She snarled in rage held out her hands, glowing pink. With a flick of her wrists she released a full barrage of the pink ripples at me, the forest around us, and anything else that was within range of hitting me.

I hurdled some bolts, batted more away with my sword, all the while dodging or cutting through the avalanche of trees that kept falling towards me, and advancing on Jinx's position.

Quickly I had come inside blade range and attacked. She ducked my first swing, so I returned with a downward slash.

She sidestepped,

I slashed horizontally

She hurdled it, landed and threw a punch at my chest

I twisted around her punch, and planted my sword in the ground, using it as a pivot point to spin my entire body, feet first at her exposed side.

Somehow she managed to jump up into a side flip, trailing pink, that carried her over my attack, and she launched a platform shoe at my back.

I barely managed to get my sword out of the ground, and around in time to block the kick with its flat side.

She twirled back like a dancer, and flung another one of those annoying pink things at my feet, the ground exploded throwing me backwards as she followed through with a pink glowing fist.

I shifted my sword to my left hand and blocked wrist to wrist, immediately driving the butt of my sword at her ribs.

With a flicker of pink she launched herself into the air, performing a front-handspring over my shoulders, landed behind me and unleashed another bolt at my back.

The bolt passed through me, and struck a tree about a hundred feet in front of me.

I spun around blade drawn back, and only caught a glimpse of the surprise and confusion on her face before I slammed the flat of the blade into her side like a baseball bat with enough force to knock her through the air, through part of the forest, and into a clearing about a hundred yards away.

As I stepped into the clearing, sword at my side, she was just starting to try and get up.

When she did, she stood there for a moment, clutching her side; she blinked a few times, then dropped into an steady fighting position.

I smiled coldly, and walked towards her.

Another one of the pink bolts flew from her hands at my feet, I jumped back to avoid it as the ground where I had been standing exploded.

I rushed out of the spray of dirt in a full sprint, and attacked with dizzying speed, slashing and twirling my blade, creating a virtual wall of metal that left her with no choice but to back up.

Very quickly, I had driven her all the way back to a large lake that took up half the clearing.

My blade sang at her again, flat side first.

Trailing pink she leapt straight into the air, gripped my blade with her feet and twisted it so she ended up standing on the flat side.

The Cheshire grin came back as she winked at me, and spun a pink glowing kick into the side of my head.

The impact spun me around, stunning me momentarily, and knocking off my shades.

Jinx paused for a moment, looking at my glowing eyes, then stepped in with a fist to my side, and a kick to my other side.

I staggered back from the assault, as she drove her knee into my stomach, knocking all the air from my lungs.

She finished her attack by again performing a front-handspring over my shoulders, but this time, she didn't let go.

Using the momentum from her flip, she threw me over herself, out over the lake.

In mid-flight I lost hold of my sword. it plunged into the water, and I followed it in.

Jinx's eyes narrowed and her wrists shone pink. She cut loose a huge barrage of pink into the water, creating massive explosions.

The pink witch stood still for ten minutes after all the bubbling had stopped, nothing moved. "So long Bright-eyes."

She slumped to the ground roughly, and cupped a hand over her bleeding cheek, "Oww." She looked back at the water, "Oh well, one less potential problem for tonight."

She looked back down at her side where I had clubbed her, and instead, saw a pair of sleek black sunglasses resting in the grass beside her.

She stared at them for a moment, then picked them up, dropping them into a pouch on her belt, to keep as a trophy.

She slowly rose to her feet, then limped off to join up with the rest of her team.


	12. Theatre Stakeout Part 4 Final

The pink haired sorceress stepped into a small clearing, still limping slightly; her cheek had stopped bleeding, but was still bright red.

She looked up to see her team, Gizmo and Mammoth already there waiting for her.

"Jinx, where has your scrub-buffin' butt been?" snapped Gizmo.

Jinx sighed, and pointed at her cheek, "I ran into a little resistance, that Shadow character from Jump City, but her won't be bothering us anymore. How about you two, is Control Freak loose and doing his thing?"

"Of course he is, it would take a real moron to not be able to spring that fat tub of lard from prison."

Jinx smirked briefly, then dropped back to deadpan as pain shot through her cheek, bringing a wince with it, "Well, he'll keep the Titans busy enough to keep them out of our hair just long enough for us to get what we need, and get out."

Mammoth spoke up, "Yeah, nothing fancy, just a pick-up and go."

Jinx rubbed her cheek again, then sighed lightly, "One of you keep watch, I need to rest a bit, so I'm ready for tonight."

With that, she laid down, and was asleep instantly.

Gizmo immediately resumed his grumbling, "Who put that snot brained witch in charge of this mission to begin with."

Mammoth, with his incredible knack for stating the obvious replied, "Brother Blood."

Gizmo glared at him, shutting Mammoth up immediately.

The theatre was in absolute chaos in preparation for the evening performance; actors, stagehands, musicians, and other staff ran around like crazy, everyone doing their part to get ready, and Miss Harcourt stood in the midst of it all, coordinating the chaos as best as could be done.

Amber shot past her in a blur, on some sort of an errand.

"Amber!" called Miss Harcourt.

The teenage girl skidded to a stop and turned around to see what her manager wanted, "Yes'm?"

"Have you seen Mr. Anderson?"

"No I haven't, but I guess he's probably trying to stay out of the way, so I doubt we'll see much of him."

"Well, I guess that makes sense…he'll probably turn up come performance time.

Be-beep Be-beep Be-beep

Jinx's cat eyes slid open as she reached over and pressed the button on her communicator that shut off the alarm, she rolled gracefully to her feet, straightened her jumpsuit and hair, then looked at her comrades.

"Showtime."

Jinx sat perched on top of the theatre, behind one of it's stone guardians, pink eyes trained on the arriving vehicles.

Without averting her gaze she slipped the communicator from her hip and whispered into it, "Jinx here, are you all in position?"

"This is Mammoth, I'm ready."

"I'm here," snarled Gizmo.

Jinx nodded, "Good." Her gaze abruptly locked in on a jet-black limousine that had just pulled in, "The target has arrived."

She turned from her watch post towards her attack position, sliding the radio back into it's holster as she walked.

Her slender hand traced the thin slice in her cheek, it still hadn't stopped stinging, she'd have to have it looked at once she got back to the academy.

Shrugging it off, she dropped back through a hatch in the roof and disappeared into the rafters.

"Is everything ready?" Miss Harcourt asked as she looked around the now cleaned and organized lobby.

"Yes Ma'am." stated Amber, standing right next to her.

Miss Harcourt was now dressed in an elegant black floor-length dress, Amber in a black skirt-suit complete with a small rose tucked into the lapel.

Miss Harcourt took a deep breath, then commanded, "Open the doors."

Two tuxedoed ushers moved to fulfill her request.

"Amber, stay out here to help out where you can, I need to get backstage."

"Yes'm." Amber replied, put on her best smile, and prepared to great the guests.

The play rolled on, keeping the audience entranced, and the climax before intermission was about to strike.

The Phantom yelled in his rage, then 'cut loose' the massive chandelier that hung over the crowd.

As it plummeted towards the ground, one person yelled out and pointed.

All eyes fixed on, not the chandelier, but on the person who rode it down.

A certain pink-haired witch stood balanced on the falling light fixture, and as swooped towards the stage, jumped off in a clean front-flip, while still inverted, she let loose a burst of hex into the cables supporting the chandelier, sending it crashing to the stage.

With a bone-shaking roar, Mammoth burst up, through the stage, launching wood shrapnel everywhere, as Gizmo burst through the back doors on four spidery legs, shoulder cannons armed and ready.

"This is a HIVE takeover!" yelled Jinx, "Nobody move!"

Gizmo gave everyone in the frightened crowd a chance to look down the barrels of his cannons, "If all of you mindless idiots cooperate, no one gets blasted."

Mammoth looked through the crowd, until he spotted their target, a highly decorated four-star Admiral.

He plowed through the crowd like a bulldozer and grabbed him by his collar, carrying him to Jinx, "Got 'im."

"Nice job," she replied, then smiled all too cheerfully and poked a finger at the admiral's face, "Hi there Admiral Johnson, you have the codes to a few little missiles we want, lets go."

Mammoth hoisted the frightened admiral over his shoulder, and headed for the doors, as Jinx led the way. Gizmo turned to follow, but in a flash of inspiration, turned and launched a few parting rockets into the set.

The explosions lit the entire stage on fire, and mass panic broke out in the audience.

The three students jogged out into the lobby, Jinx reaching the main doors first, she reached her hand towards the door, then froze, a low rumble was heard outside, as the massive doors literally fluctuated, then with a roar of raw energy were blown inwards, off their hinges.

The eruption of power hurled all three HIVE members and their captive across the lobby, slamming them roughly into the far wall.

"What the heck? Was Control Freak that pathetic that the Titans still made it here?" yelled Gizmo looking over at Jinx, then realized she wasn't looking back at him, but at the destroyed entryway with her mouth hanging open.

"N-no, you're dead! I……Killed You!"

Gizmo looked in the direction she was to see a tall, armor-clad, blue-eyed, very-much-alive warrior, a cold smirk on my face.

My eyes flared emerald, and a rush of enchanted water extinguished the inferno that was burning on the stage, then I turned to face my opponents.

"I don't know how you survived that last run-in we had, Bright-eyes," Jinx snarled, "But you won't pull off a miracle like that again, Attack Pattern, Beta, GO!"

The three scattered into various directions, trying to keep a constant flanking position on me.

Gizmo immediately opened up on me with his shoulder-cannons. With a flare of emerald energy, I cast Barrier around myself, leaving the blasts to deflect harmlessly off.

I heard a roar behind me as Mammoth charged me from behind, I threw myself into the air performing a back flip so that when I was inverted, Mammoth was right under me.

I instantly reached out and touched his forehead, "Sweet Dreams."

My eyes flashed, and his instantly flipped shut; he staggered a few steps, then collapsed to the ground, snoring heavily.

Jinx and Gizmo stared at him for a moment, then turned back towards me.

"What the…" muttered Jinx.

She was cut off by a battle cry from Gizmo as he came charging at me on his four robotic legs.

I rolled my eyes, then rolled my body, right between the legs of his machine. I shot straight up off the ground behind him, sword drawn.

The enormous blade cleaved his backpack in half; the two halves shorted out, sparked, the exploded throwing the small fighter into the wall, he slumped to the ground, unconscious.

I turned to face Jinx, spun my sword, locked it back into it's clamps, adjusted my gloves, then lowered my hands to my side.

"Pathetic."

Jinx glared at me angrily, "Why you, y-you'll pay for that! I beat you before, I'll do it again!"

"Alright then," I said smirking coldly, "Lets dance."

She snarled and sprinted at me, rolling her charge into a front flip, bringing her foot down at my head.

I simply stood there, then at the last possible moment, my hand flashed up and caught her shoe, stopping her in mid-air, the flipped her around, dropping her on her backside.

"Come on now, you'll have to do better that that."

"RRRRGH!" she hurled a burst of hex at my head. My sword was out in an instant, I swung it like a baseball bat, knocking the bolts right back at her.

She yelped and dove out of the way as the floor she had been standing on exploded.

I resheathed my sword as she drove at me fists flying, I easily blocked her attacks, and countered with my own, which she in turn blocked.

We both kicked apart from each other at the exact same time, she spun and ran up the side wall of the lobby, flipped off it to come back down at me.

Instead of waiting for her this time, I ran forward, jumped against the wall, kicked off of it, and drove a combat boot into her chest.

Her petite body flew towards the floor, as she barely managed to rotate around to land on her feet.

"Catch," I came down at her, sword first, she jumped back to dodge, allowing it to slam into the ground, shattering floorboards.

The blade flashed in reverse as I brought it straight back up out of the ground, and up at her again, forcing her backwards.

I came at her again, using the same sword spinning pattern I had the night before, driving her across the lobby quickly.

Jinx's eyes lit up as she recognized the pattern, and waited for her moment to strike.

Just as she almost reached the wall, I let loose a broad sweeping slice, she jumped straight into the air, and again landed on top of my blade, wound up to kick, then froze as I smiled at her and winked.

I spun around so the sword rested over my shoulder, then swung it like the arm of a catapult, launching her across the room.

Her small frame rag-dolled into the wall near the auditorium doors.

She blinked her cat-eyes repeatedly trying to clear the cobwebs in her head. Her head came up to see me striding calmly across the room towards her, sword at my side.

Quickly scanning the room for options, her gaze settled on the doors that stood next to her.

I followed the HIVE student's gaze to see a sizable crowd gathered by the doors watching us fight, with Amber standing near the front.

"J-J-Josh?" she stammered.

I looked back at my opponent and read her intentions plainly, but she moved before I could, leaping over to the crowd, she pulled Amber out by the hair and throat and held the teenager in front of herself as a human shield.

"I see you two know each other Bright Eyes,"

Amber continued to stare at me in disbelief as the pink witch continued, "I don't know why my hex bolts don't seem to hurt you, but if your little friend here gets hit, she dies. Now drop your sword."

I complied, gently laying my sword on the ground, then my eyes fell on the cut on her cheek, as a cold smirk came across my face.

"So, you think taking a hostage will save you?"

My eyes met hers as Jinx charged a bolt in her hand,

"You're sadly mistaken, all that'll do is cause you more pain."

Her face twisted in confusion, then my eyes flared emerald green, as did the cut on her cheek.

The veins across her cheek, spreading from the cut took on a black hue. She cried out as waves of pain assaulted her, the hex charge faded as she staggered back clutching her face.

"What…the…" She managed to get out. As the dark flow began to creep down her neck as well.

She crumpled to the ground and curled up into the fetal position sobbing uncontrollably.

I solemnly stepped up overtop the suffering assassin, and quietly spoke, "When my blade cut you, it was charged with an enchanted venom that I can control, if I let it continue you will die after an hour of pain, continually growing more severe."

I looked down at her as her sobs became some intense her body jerked with every one.

"Do you surrender?"

She painfully managed a nod, and stammered out, "Y-yes."

I looked at her pained pink eyes, flowing tears, and no longer saw the deadly, fearless, Hive assassin Jinx, but a frightened teenage girl.

My mind's eyes suddenly shifted, and in my mind I saw not Jinx, but a different young girl, dark blonde-haired and green-eyed, also in pain.

I shook my head to clear the unwanted sight, closed my eyes and concentrated, my eyes reopened shimmering green.

The black poison in her body faded to nothing as a bizarre sparkling surrounded her body. My eyes flickered slightly as I switched to a cure spell. The emerald glow flowed around her body, repairing all the cuts and bruises across her body, and as it had on Raven, the spell faded, leaving her unconscious.

As my eyes faded back to normal, they melted from the cold eyes of a soldier, to ones that betrayed a deep sadness.

I gently scooped the sleeping girl up and carried her over, setting her down next to the still snoring Mammoth.

Before I let her go, I leaned to her ear and whispered, "I'm sorry."

I solemnly stood up, then walked over to the KO'd Gizmo, grabbed him by his ankles and drug him over to join the other two. As I began to stand up to walk away, I saw something sparkle.

I turned and saw the edge of my shades sticking out of one of Jinx's belt pockets. I gently slid them out, and put them back on.

The entire audience stared out the doors at me with varying looks of amazement, disbelief, and confusion, I returned their gaze calmly.

"Could…somebody bring me some rope?"

A stage hand rushed off to get it, as Miss Harcourt pushed her way through the crowd and stepped forward, hands on her hips, "Alright, 'Joshua Anderson,' what is going on here?"

I sighed and shook my head, "Alright, I guess it's about time I went public anyway." I paused and took a deep breath, "My name…is not Joshua Anderson; I am called Shadow, the latest addition to the Teen Titans. I was here on a covert operation, because I'm the only member of the team that is not publicly known. We had reason to believe that something was happening here, so I was sent in to investigate. I posed as the wealthy businessman Joshua Anderson to get myself in the doors."

At that moment the stagehand returned with a good length of rope and I set about tying their wrists and feet.

The surrounding crowd jumped at the sound of charging feet, a charging sonic cannon, and the rush of starbolts. The Titans burst through the main doors, Robin in the lead with a fan of birdarangs in his hands.

"Titans G…oh, umm, never mind."

I looked up as I tied the last knot in the makeshift bonds, "Hey guys, how's it?"

"Uh, we're good, what happened here?"

"HIVE broke in and tried to kidnap an admiral of some sort, I think they were after some kind of code."

Robin's eye mask widened, "Nuclear launch codes?"

"Yeah, that's it."

The Titans were silent for a moment until Beast Boy spoke, "Whoa, and I thought we had it hard with Control Freak."

"Huh what?"

"We'll tell you later," cut in Robin, "The news vans are already coming." Robin then turned to me and smirked, "Your operation, the news crew is your problem, good luck."

With that, he turned and led the Titans back out the door.

I watched the Titans leave, then turned and smiled at the gathered crowd.

"These three should be out until well after the police arrive. Later." I spun on my heels and jogged out the doors, disappearing into the darkness, a few moments later they all heard the roar of my bike leaving, fast.

Amber stood there, smile on her face, staring out into the night after me, "So, Shadow…does exist."

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

Later that night, the crew of the theatre was slowly cleaning up the mess left behind by the HIVE attack.

Miss Harcourt sat quietly in the back of the auditorium, face in her hands. The theatre was wrecked, and without the profit from the rest of the performances, she doubted the theatre would be able to stay in business.

The actions of the new Titan had saved the people of the theatre, but had ruined the business of it.

Her thoughts were interrupted by someone quietly clearing their throat next to her.

She turned her tear-stained face to see Amber standing there, and smiled weakly.

"Yes, what is it Amber?"

Amber reached into the inside pocket of her suit coat and produced an envelope.

"Th-this was stuck in the back door."

Miss Harcourt took the letter and turned it over, her name was written across the front of the envelope in rough print, and in the corner of it, was a simple 'S.'

She took a deep breath, and opened the envelope, coming out with a folded piece of notebook paper, written on in the same rough print, she read the short note aloud:

"Dear Emily,

I'd like to say I'm sorry one more time for the deception, and the damage I caused during my fight against HIVE. But I also want you to know that I am keeping the promise I made when we first met. Also in the envelope you will find a cashiers check that should easily cover the money lost due to the theatre being too damaged to host the other performances, as well as enough to repair and refurbish the entire theatre. Again, I'm sorry again for all the trouble I caused, and I hope you can forgive me someday.

Sincerely,

Shadow"

Her hand slipped back into the envelope and produced the long promised check; her eyes were immediately brimming with tears as she clutched it to herself tightly, "Thank you, Joshua."

In the woods, just to the side of the theatre, a pair of shimmering blue eyes looked on through a window as Emily Harcourt showed the small check to Amber, who immediately clapped a hand over her mouth, then hugged her supervisor. I smiled to myself lightly, the vanished again into the darkness


	13. Back to the Tower

"Dude, then I did the dance, and flash! Control Freak was sealed up in a two-dimensional panel…it…was SO…SWEET!"

Beast Boy stood in front of me, having just related their adventure in the world of television with Control Freak while I had been at the theatre. It was really kinda interesting.

"Yeah," I responded, "My mission wasn't all that interesting, talked my way into a theatre, did some snooping, kicked butt, and left."

"Yeah, but it was HIVE butt you kicked!"

"Eh, it wasn't too bad."

Cyborg looked back over the couch from where he had been watching TV, "I'm still kinda wondering about one thing in your report."

"What's that?"

"You said Jinx knocked you into the lake, and you stayed in there all night, and most of the next day. What's up with that?"

I shrugged, "I couldn't find my sword, it buried itself in the mud."

Cyborg gave me a strange look, "Not what I meant man."

"Then what?"

"How did you stay underwater that long without drowning?"

"Oh that…part of my magic, called Underwater, it forms a magical barrier aver my mouth and nose that filter oxygen out of water, letting me more-or-less, breathe water."

Cy's human eye blinked a few times, "Soooo, what can't you survive?"

I smirked mischievously, "Don't know, I haven't found anything yet."

Both guys in the room snickered, then Cyborg looked back at the TV, "Oh, it's on."

BB and I vaulted over the couch, landing next to Cy as he turned up the volume.

_This is April Langosta coming to you live from the Tri-County Theatre where a kidnapping of a Navy Admiral by members of the criminal organization HIVE. The attempt was stopped by the latest addition to the Teen Titans, the rumored and much debated Shadow. _

_We have eyewitness accounts of his combat with the three criminals. He is reported to be about six feet tall, have short brown hair, and unusual blue eyes." _

The view switched over to a series of sketches of what I supposedly looked like, some were accurate, others were way off.

"_He reportedly wields a massive sword, about as long as he is tall, and possesses very unusual powers, no one could give us a definite answer as to what they are." _

The camera again switched to show a fuzzy camera shot of a dark figure on a motorcycle.

"_Here we have what we believe to be the first documented taping of this mysterious Titan as he leaves the scene of the theatre on what appears to be a highly customized motorcycle." _

The picture shifted again, back to the reporter, _"We will keep you updated as we learn more, this is April Langosta, Jump City News."_

_Click_, Cyborg shut the television off and looked straight at me, "You didn't stay and talk to the press?"

I shrugged casually, "Nah, I wanted to maintain my shadowy mystique. Besides, if reporters in this day and age are half as bad as Star claims them to be, it was wise of me to escape."

Cyborg just rolled his human eye, "You're nuts man."

"No I'm no……wait, yeah you're right, I am."

We were silent for a solid four seconds, then B.B. called out, "Well, enough of this…HALO time!"

Both him and Cyborg dove for controllers and within moments had entered into fierce combat with the Covenant.

I watched for a moment, then looked over to where Raven sat reading, as usual, then said aloud to anyone who could hear me, "I'm going out for a walk, k? see you all later."

Raven slightly nodded as Beast Boy yelled, "Ok, see ya later."

This was immediately added to by Cyborg with a "Oh no you didn't! Die you Covenant scumbag!"

I laughed and walked out the main door to the elevator. Just as I was about to press the button, the door chimed and opened; I stepped to the side to allow Robin and Starfire to step out.

"…and that is the story of how King Drenthar reclaimed the crown from his evil brother," Star was saying, "Oh, greetings friend Shadow, how is it that you fair on this particularly glorious day?"

I smiled shaking my head slightly, "I'm doing alright, how 'bout you two?"

"Glorious!"

"I'm good."

"Well, see ya'll later."

"Where ya goin'?" asked Robin.

"Just outside, sit by the ocean."

Robin looked at me a little strange, "Oh, ok, see ya." They continued on their way down the hall and into the main room, but not before Star shot another quizzical look over her shoulder at me.

I sighed and stepped into the elevator, I rode it down in complete silence, then walked out the doors and out of the tower.

My wandering path took me to the edge of the island where I sat down on one of the many rock bluffs, letting my feet hand freely over the edge. I sat silently watching the waves roll in, and crash against the shores of the island.

I soon found myself staring right through the waves, and wandered off into my thoughts. They roamed freely to my home, the urban hellhole that was the slums of Midgar, that I still had loved so much.

My mind wandered across the wide plains that my many adventures had carried me over, to the city of Wutai, the Nibel Mountains, Costa Del Sol, even up to the northern glaciers.

Visiting these places in my mind drew me to think about the war, the more I did, the harder I tried to thin of other things.

My thoughts finally obeyed, and snapped to a much happier memory, one with long dark blonde hair, a cheerful smile, and crystal blue eyes.

But as I saw here eyes in my mind, they shifted from bright, to pained. In an instant my mind shifted to see the last time I had held her.

My hands instantly clenched into fists as I forced that memory from my mind.

I was instantly snapped from my memories as I heard someone softly clear their throat from behind me.

I turned to see Starfire standing there with her hands neatly folded in front of her.

"Hey Star," I said softly.

"Hello," she responded cheerfully, "May I join you in your observation of the ocean?"

"Sure," I slid over to give her space to sit, she did so gracefully, "How long have you been standing there?" I asked.

She folded her hands across her lap, smoothing her skirt, "Not a long period of time, you seemed to be thinking upon something of importance, I did not wish to interrupt."

I half smiled, we sat for a moment in silence, until Star spoke up again,

"I have seen you drift off into your thoughts like that several times in the period that you have been residing at the tower. Where is it that you go?"

I sighed and looked back at the ocean, then replied softly, "Just going back to old memories of my old life, ya know, memories that don't matter any more."

Her eyes softened, "You must not say that."

"Huh?"

"All memories that you have of home are most precious, they will never cease to matter, you must not attempt to forget them."

"Yeah, but a lot of them, I really wish I could," I muttered softly.

"I apologize, what did you say?" she said looking at me.

"Oh, nothin'."

I continued to stare calmly at the ocean, but still felt Star's eyes on me, I glanced back at her, and realized that she wasn't staring at me, in general, but at the top of my head.

I turned to fully face her, "Something wrong?"

She gasped and looked away, her cheeks flushing brightly.

"What?" I asked.

She looked at her feet intensely, still blushing, "Forgive me, I-I have never…really…seen someone up close who possessed hair of the color brown."

I shot her a confused look, "huh-what?"

She turned an even more vivid shade of red, her face now almost matching her hair, "Y-you see, on Tameran, hair of red is the normal, Tameranians born with hair of black are very rare, my sister being one of these, and are considered highly attractive, but…no Tameranian in history has ever possessed hair of brown."

I thought for a moment, then took on a slight smirk, "Soooo, if black hair is considered 'highly attractive' because of its rarity, what would that make people with brown hair on Tameran?"

Star turned completely crimson and looked away, back at the ocean. "The sea is most beautiful today, yes?"

I just laughed, "So, what brought you down here to see me anyway?"

"Oh, yes! We are preparing to commence with a game of ball to the volley on the roof, and we wish for you to come and join with us."

I was slowly learning how to interpret Starfire's version of English, so I rearranged a few words, "Volleyball?" I said, somewhat confused.

"Yes, that is it!"

"Uh, sure, I'll come, but…what's volleyball?"

"Oh, a most glorious athletic event of knocking an inflated bladder over a web of woven cloth."

"Um, yeah, ok."

"HEEE!" exclaimed Starfire, then grabbed me by the wrist and launched into the air, with me in tow.

"GEEZ!"

We shot at breakneck speeds to the top of the tower, when we got there, I saw the 'web of cloth' already set up, and Cyborg and Beast Boy trying to convince Raven to play.

Star landed near them, dropping me next to her.

"Friends," she said, "We have a most glorious occasion, this shall be Shadow's first game of ball to the volley!"

Everyone looked at her, then at me, then at Raven.

"Come on Rae," pleaded Cyborg, "You heard Star, this is the noobie's first game, you gotta play."

Raven just stared at him.

"PLEEEEEEEZZZZZZZEEEEE!" Said Beast Boy.

She finally rolled her eyes, "Fine, I'll do it, IF you shut up." She floated over to join the rest of us in a line of some sort.

Cyborg and Robin stepped forward as 'captains'.

Robin spoke first, Star, you're with me," Star smiled and floated over to join him.

Then Cyborg, "Chris my man, over here." I walked over.

"Raven, called Robin.

"And I've got B.B."

Both teams moved to our respective sides, Robin's team with the ball.

"Uh, guys?" I started.

"Zero-serving-zero" called Robin as he wound up.

"Guys."

I looked around quickly as Robin tossed the ball into the air.

"Guys."

Robin started his swing, so I got everyone's attention, with a thunderous roar, some poor unsuspecting fly that was cruising over the net was blasted by a lightning spell.

Robin stumbled and launched the ball straight into the air, Star shrieked, and dove to the ground covering her head, and everyone else looked straight at me.

"Ok, now that I have everyone's attention, the noobie has a question…how do you play?"

Beast Boy immediately jumped in holding up the ball, "Now ya see, this is called a Volleyball, that rope thingie there is a net, the whole idea is that you knock the ball over the net, trying to make it hit the ground on the other teams side, while keeping it from hitting the ground on your side, now your team can hit the ball three times each time it comes over the net, unless it's a serve, then only the server can hit it and…"

"Whoa," I cut him off then grinned, "Give me…two minutes." I cast Haste and rocketed down the stairs to my room, skidding to a stop in front of my computer, I did a quick internet search, and came up with the official rules.

I scrolled through the page rapidly, blinking a few times while my mind copied the image, then filed all the rules away in my mind. In a blur, I was back on the roof, "Ok, let's play."

They all gave me a weird look. "Ok," Robin said slowly, "zero-serving-zero" He dealt the ball a crushing overhand serve, Cyborg dove for the ball, knocking it up and into the air.

I quickly got under it, setting it up for Beast Boy who spiked the ball right back at Robin.

The Boy Wonder easily knocked the ball back into the air as Star jumped up and returned the spike; and so it went, the occasional point scored, soon we were tied at 5-5.

The six of us all stood panting for a moment, until Robin spoke up, "Ok, let's make this a little more interesting, Powers are Go."

Beast Boy smirked, it was his turn to serve.

He tossed the ball up, and in an instant had morphed into a gorilla, smashing the ball at the other team with incredible force.

With a flash of black TK, Raven launched the ball a good thirty feet above the court.

Star pursued the ball into the air, eyes burning brightly, and spiked the ball with full alien strength.

I looked up at the ball, then with a flicker of emerald in my eyes, was catapulted into the air, I rolled forward in a front flip driving both fists into the ball, adding to its tameranian given speed, and redirecting it into the ground.

Robin dove for the ball, but was knocked spinning away from it by the force of the impact. Point.

The ball came back to BB and he served it with gorilla strength, it flew straight over the net and at the ground, no one was even near it.

Beast Boy started jumping around cheering, "Yeah, I got an Ace! Wooo hoooo!"

His celebration was cut off abruptly by a TK propelled ball that nailed him in the head, he staggered back several steps, then looked at the ball laying on the ground in front of him.

"You were right," stated Raven to no one in particular, an evil smirk on her face, "This game is certainly….enjoyable."

Cyborg looked at the dazed elf, "Sorry man, she caught it with her powers just before it hit the ground."

Beast Boy pouted, "Fine, your serve Raven."

The dark girl nodded and floated the ball back to herself, then tossed it up; at the peak of its flight, the ball was catapulted forward with a pulse of black energy, aimed straight at Cyborg's head.

He wound up to hit the ball, his hand switching into cannon mode; as he swung he cut loose a sonic blast that sent the ball sailing off the side of the roof.

Before anyone else could move, I sprinted across the roof, and dove off the side in hot pursuit of the ball.

"What on earth?" yelled Cyborg, "He can't fly…can he?"

As he finished his question I rocketed back up over the top of the tower and landed heavily, then looked up at all the Titans staring at me

"What?"

"You can fly too?" asked Beast Boy with a blank look on his face.

I laughed, "It's not really flying, it's more of a propelled free-fall."

All I got was a collective blank stare.

"Ok, you know how my powers kinda manipulate the elements, gravity is no exception, I can reduce the force of gravity over a small point, or even invert it so it throws me into the air…but it's only good for vertical, if I was gonna try and fly normally, I'd have to readjust the gravity well every centimeter I moved, so I'd be worn out in about twenty feet. So all it's really good for is surviving long falls, and jumping high."

"Ok," drawled Cyborg slowly, "So how many other surprises do ya have for us?"

"Oh, not too many," I really hope they don't see some of them.

Robin smirked, "Come on Titans, we have a game to finish…"

As if on cue, the siren began to wail, and we all rushed into the main room, coming to a stop in front of the screen.

Robin punched a few buttons and a map of the city lit up, "There, major disturbance in the industrial district, cause is unknown. Titans…GO!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	14. On Being British Part 1

The three Titan vehicles skidded to a stop in front of a smoking warehouse; the entire side of it was completely destroyed, but there was no sign of trouble.

Cyborg stood up from his car, looking around, "So, did we miss the party?"

Flash…BOOM!

A huge ball of energy slammed into the ground in the middle of us.

The explosion threw all six Titans apart into various buildings, before any of us could recover, massive robots burst through the buildings, grabbing each of us.

I looked at the attacking machines and had to do a double take, they were dressed like………Wind-up British soldiers?

I quickly looked around at my teammates and saw them all being restrained in some way.

Robin, Beast Boy, and the girls were being held by robots.

The machine holding Cyborg had giant steel clamps in place of its hands.

I looked down at myself to see a robot like Cyborg's holding me down, I struggled against it, but couldn't move.

Raven closed her eyes and concentrated, "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" ……nothing happened

Star seemed to be trying to break free, or use star bolts, or something…nothing happened.

And for some reason, Beast Boy couldn't shape shift.

"Not these things again," Beast Boy groaned.

"ello my duckies," trilled an annoyingly whiney voice.

Our restraining robots turned us to face the speaker, a slightly tall, man with vibrant red hair, a union jack t-shirt, and a jeweled cane.

"Mad Mod," Robin spat.

The psychedelic criminal twirled his cane, then leaned on it, "You lot 'ave been quite naughty lately, you've done mussed up my last few plans, and I'm quite annoyed! I tried reeducatin' you, then I tried reeducatin' your ci'y, but both times you've gotten in the way, So's I'm just gonna destroy ya first."

He smirked happily at the thought, "Ya see, neither of me first plans worked out right, but they were all effective in some way, I realized that it was your powers that were able to beat me robots, so's I done come up with a nice way to make them not work. You'll all meet your end from my li'l firing squad 'ere then I'll be free to put this disobedient colony back under Bri'ish control where it belongs."

Robin looked at him boredly, "Not that your little monologue wasn't fascinating, but we have more important things to do than get shot." the Boy Wonder looked straight at me, "Shadow NOW!"

Mod spun to look at me, "Who what?"

Emerald energy flared behind my shades, and gravity went into flux behind my back, creating a micro-sized black hole in the workings of my robot.

The machine's power core collapsed, and it fell backwards, releasing me, in rapid succession I cast the same spell five times, wrecking the robots holding my teammates.

The machines collapsed as the Titans stood ready to fight.

I watched as Beast Boy concentrated, trying to morph…nothing happened.

"Great," he muttered, "My powers still don't work"

"Mine neither," stated Raven, her usual monotone tinged with a bit of concern

"I am regretful to say that mine are, how do you say, 'on the fritz',"

"All my parts seem to be working, but I can't get my arm into cannon mode."

Robin glanced around, "Then we do this old fashioned style."

Mod finally recovered from his shock and shouted, "Attack my soldiers, attack!"

Countless numbers of the redcoat machines poured out from around a corner, guns at the ready.

"Raven, Star, BB," Robin ordered, "Get back, without your powers you can't fight there things."

"But…" started Starfire.

"No buts, get back."

"Robin," stated Raven, "Not possible."

"Huh?" he started.

She just pointed, more of the robotic soldiers were pouring into area from every direction, cutting off all routes of escape.

"Dang," yelled Cyborg, "Any bright ideas?"

"I'm workin' on it, I'm workin' on it." Robin said, his mind scrambling for options.

The machines took up positions all the way around us, and raised their guns.

"Ready!" yelled Mod.

"Robin!"

"Take Aim!"

A thought hit me, and I quickly concentrated.

"FIRE!"

My eyes opened blazing with green fire as I cast barrier on each Titan just as the machines fired.

The bolts skipped harmlessly off the magical armor.

The Titans all stopped flinching to find that they were uninjured.

Beast Boy looked over at me, "Dude, that you?"

"Yeah," I said, panting slightly, "You have ten minutes before that shield wears off, until then, it'll deflect their shots, and cushion impacts."

"Alright," Robin stated, "You heard him, ten minutes, make it count, Titans…GO!"

Robin and Cyborg blitzed the war machines fearlessly, while the rest of us prepared to attack at a slightly slower pace.

With barrier to protect them, even the powerless Titans had a chance, so they armed themselves with anything they could find.

Beast Boy had found a good bit of wood to use as a club, so he too charged the robot army.

Star and Raven were still looking for something when I got another idea.

I stepped over and hefted the energy rifle from one of the fallen machines, "Star, Raven, over here!"

The two girls ran over to me, without their powers, it would take both of them to use this gun, but it would work.

Beast Boy yelled, "Hey everybody, a little help here!"

We looked to see him standing alone against a veritable wall of british marching straight at him.

I charged the army while the two girls, Star aiming and Raven firing began to blast away at the advancing robots.

"RRauuuggh," I brought my sword down at the first robot, leaving a gash in it's chest, I swung again, cutting even further into it's plating, my third slice finally pierced it's armor, and with a final stab, I wrecked its power core.

The machine fell to the ground, and I looked up, 'Great, one down, about three million to go, gotta be a faster way to take these things down.'

I glanced around quickly, then gave my sword an electronic charge. I fluxed gravity and launched into the air.

My eyes narrowed as I came down at one of the robot's head, it, in turn looked up to see my sparking blade coming straight for its face.

CLAMP

My eyes went wide as the machine caught the blade between it's hands, lightning sparked across it's body, and harmlessly diffused into the ground.

It turned slightly, then slammed me into the ground.

I lost hold of the hilt, seeing stars.

My vision cleared just in time to see Mod's robot toss my sword away, the blade embedded itself into the side of a building fifteen stories up.

The British machine turned to face me and brought it's white gloved fists at me.

I rolled to the side as the cement I had been laying on was powdered.

I fluxed gravity slightly, kicking myself into a back flip that landed me in a crouch a few feet away.

I was immediately grabbed from behind by yet another robot, as the first drew its rifle to blast me.

Glancing down I saw that the barrier spell held the machine's arms a half foot away from my skin,

Acting on pure reflex, I dispelled my barrier spell, dropped through the machine's arms, sliding between its legs. I kicked off the ground, coming up it's back.

The machine staggered forward as I pulled the rifle from its back mount

Blam! I fired point-blank into the other robot's chest, it slumped to the ground. I instantly rolled to the side to dodge the other machine's fists, then fired up into it, it too fell.

Bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-blam,

A small group of robots fired at me in a scatter pattern.

Diving to the side, I returned fire, I got three of them, then hit the ground rolling, I came to a stop behind the cover of a downed robot.

Taking the chance I had, I glanced around to check on the team

Beast Boy was being ping-ponged around by a few machines, but Cyborg were headed over to help him.

Robin was flipping around everywhere, being his usual badass self.

I looked around franticly for the two girls, hoping they hadn't been recaptured,

There, they were pinned up against a wall, the barrier spell was protecting them for now, but they needed help.

I raised the rifle, holding it vertically in front of my face, took one breath, then broke cover, charging the robots around Raven and Starfire, firing like mad.

Quickly reaching the back line of machines, I ran right up its back, and kicked off with an added flux of gravity.

Mid-flight, I inverted myself and opened fire on the machines passing under me, several went down.

I came down landing perched on the shoulders of a robot that was winding up to punch at Starfire's barrier again. It looked up at me, and down the barrel of my gun.

"Now that's not very nice. And here I thought British were supposed to be gentlemen." Blam

I rode the smoking machine to the ground, and whirled quickly blasting all the other machines that were overly close.

Grabbing both girls by the arms, I pulled them out of the wall they had been indented into.

"You two ok?"

Raven looked at me flatly, "For the moment."

"EEP!" Starfire shrieked, I twirled quickly and blasted another machine that was charging us.

On an unspoken cue, the girls ran forward and picked up it's rifle.

I smirked, "Alright ladies, lets clear a path!"

The three of us opened up on the advancing ranks, blasting away at anything that was tall, robotic, and British.

Bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-blam!

Dozens of the killer machines fell to our volley of energy bolts.

Still firing, Raven looked over at me, "We can't keep this up, no matter how many of them go down, they just keep coming!"

I didn't look back, "Then just keep shooting."

Blam-Blam, Bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-click…..cl-click.

"I'm out!" I yelled.

"Oh, we are also experiencing a lack of projectiles remaining in our weapon," returned Starfire.

"Ok, well, all else just failed. Lightning doesn't seem to do much, so we'll se what fire can do."

My eyes flickered and the girl's gun began to glow slightly red.

As my eyes returned to normal, I exhaled heavily, "There, let 'er rip. That's a Fire 3 spell, watch where you aim it."

Raven's eyes narrowed, then she squeezed off a shot.

PHOOM!

An brilliant fireball erupted from the barrel, and burned through several machines in a row before it stopped. An evil smirk spread across her face, "I like it."

PHOOM!

A sudden thought hit me… 'hmm, I wonder…' A flicker of my eyes left me panting, as well as a bizarre warbling field around my gun…Ultima

Ch-tunk…..wizzzz……**BOOM! **The massive explosion ripped nearly two dozen machines to shreds

"Oh HELL YES!" I took aim at another group of machines.

Ch-Ch-tunk….wizzz-wizz…**BA-BOOM!**

PHOOM, PHOOM!

The constant blasts from our enchanted guns slowly drove the advancing army back.

Suddenly, the machines stopped their advance, and backed off

PHOOM! Raven and Starfire cut loose one last shot into their ranks

Starfire looked around, "…have we won?"

Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy ran up beside us.

"Did you get Mod?" asked Robin.

"No," stated Raven.

"Then, why are they backing…"

He was cut off as the ground began to shake under our feet, with a heavy rumbling, a good number of tanks rolled up, Mad Mod sitting cockily in the top of one, a stupid little helmet on his head.

"Hello duckies, you can't stop ol' Moddy."

Robin snarled, "Titans…"

I quickly leaned over to our leader, "Robin, we only have a few moments left on the barrier, and I can't risk recasting it, it'll probably knock you all out."

"Understood, Titans…get ready to make a run for it."

Beast Boy looked at him, "Uh…where? In case you haven't noticed……WE'RE SURROUNDED! AND UP AGAINST A BUILDING!"

With a shuddering flicker, the barrier spell wore off.

Mad Mod laughed insanely from atop his tank, "So much for your li'l shields, ya naugh'y kiddies." He looked at his army, "Ready!"

They raised their rifles vertically

Beast Boy looked around at all the guns nervously, "Uh, guys?" backing up against the building.

"Take Aim……FIRE!"

BLAM!


	15. On Being British Part 2

My eyes flared emerald as the volley of yellow energy flew at us. I quickly cut loose a 180 degree Ultima blast.

The wave of magical destruction absorbed the deadly bolts.

Robin looked at the wall behind us, "Cyborg, can you make us a door?"

Cyborg nodded then drove his fist through the face of the building behind us, leaving a sizable hole.

"Titans…Fall back!"

Four Titans ran through the hole, leaving me and Robin.

"Go!" he yelled.

I nodded, then shove him through the hold, before he could so much as protest I cast a bolt of lightning into the building face causing the hole to collapse.

"Shadow!" Robin yelled through the rubble, "What do you think you are doing?"

"Get out of here, I'll hold 'em off."

With a flux of gravity I shot into the air, and kicked off the building face, flying towards my sword.

"Fire fire fire!" screamed Mod. The British machines opened fire on my soaring form.

Expertly twisting and rolling in midair, I managed to dodge the hail of yellow destruction.

I hit the side of the building, about a story above where my sword was lodged in the wall.

I slid down the wall, and landed on the hilt, then threw my weight forward with my feet locked around the sword.

The blade slid free of the wall, still held in my feet, as I rolled forwards into a front flip.

Halfway through the flip I let go of the hilt and let the sword freefall.

I finished the rotation, my hands grabbing onto my trusted weapon.

A cold glint formed in my eyes as I dropped blade first into a robot, the freefall speed splitting the mechanical redcoat in two

'Alright, gotta buy the titans enough time to get away.'

"Rrrauugghh!" I twirled with the blade, impossibly deflecting several yellow bolts into the sky. I rushed the line of soldiers closest to me, ducked one shot, hurdled another, then split a third in two with my sword.

Then I was among them, I spun and slashed at anything and everything within range. I knew I couldn't possibly take them all, but it might just draw Mad Mod's attention off of the Titans

I whirled to block another attack, parrying the butts of three rifles against my sword.

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Robin rushed through the double doors out into the street joining the other four Titans, "Let's go."

"Whoa," called Cyborg, "What about Shadow?"

Robin's face darkened, "He stayed behind."

A collective "WHAT?" sounded from everyone.

"He's trying to buy us some time to get out of here, I suggest we use it."

"Ohh" said Starfire, clasping her hands together, "I do not like leaving our friend to face Mod to the Mad alone."

"Star," Robin stated, "We don't have a choice, let's go!"

The five Titans turned and ran down the road, headed for Titan's Tower.

"Now now kiddies." sounded Mod's voice, "Don't think I'll be letting you get away so easily."

The Titans looked up to see Mod's grinning face on a huge TV screen above them.

The Brit laughed insanely as a flight of aircraft came down dropping off more soldiers.

Cyborg grabbed the girl's still enchanted rifle and opened fire.

"Fall back!" yelled Robin.

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WHAM

I flew back into a wall courtesy of a steel backhand, dropped to the ground, then came up in a roll.

I quickly shook the cobwebs out, then wiped off the blood on my mouth.

I looked up, then jumped straight up to dodge an incoming fist.

Landed on the robot's arm, and swung my sword like a golf club; removing the machine's head.

I dropped behind the beheaded robot, using it as a shield.

My eyes flickered yellow as I reached out with magical senses to find my team; they were under attack and on the run, but they were ok, for now. But more importantly, they had gotten far enough away.

I took a deep breath, then looked out from behind my improvised protector.

The Ultima charged rifle was still sitting right where I had dropped it, on the far side of a veritable jungle of mechanized Brits.

I rolled my eyes and charged into their midst; knocked one back with my sword, rolled between another's legs, only to come up face to face with a fist aimed for my head.

Instinct took over, my eyes flashed, and a crimson rush surrounded me.

I blurred into motion at inhuman speeds, ducking the fist, and sliding around behind the machine, my sword flashed at it's back, and my increased speed gave the blade just the boost it needed, I split the machine in two at the waist.

Immediately I threw myself into a backflip over another one, beheading it in the process.

Dodging, attacking, and blurring, I quickly moved towards my dropped gun.

I finally reached it, scooped it up, then dove behind some rubble for cover.

I did manage to destroy quite a few of these lousy machines, but they just didn't stop coming, I had to clear a path for my escape.

I tore a panel off the side of the gun, and quickly rewired a few things.

I immediately tossed the enchanted weapon over the rubble and into the arms of a waiting robot.

I wasted no time and blurred right up the side of a building.

All the mechanized soldiers shifted their fire to my running figure

The one machine holding the shimmering rifle, looked at it for a second, then took aim, and squeezed the trigger.

The world seemed to click into slow motion, the enchanted power cell released a pulse of energy that traveled down the wiring inside, then due to my job on it, back into the power cell…overloading it.

The cell blazed a blinding white, then exploded, eradicating everything near it, including the very air around it.

Air rushed back into this miniature vacuum with explosive force, the combined blast effectively cleared the street.

I looked back at my handiwork, smirked, then concentrated. My eyes shone yellow as I scanned for my target……………..found it.

I launched myself into motion, jumping rooftop to rooftop.

As soon as I landed on a larger building, Mad Mod's face appeared on a screen across the street.

"Now now young chap, is that any way to treat your elders? Let's see how you fare against some of these." he said in that increasingly annoying voice.

As he finished speaking, I found something else to think about, an entire squadron of fighter craft swooped at me; the barrels of their guns began to glow.

"Oh, that's just great."

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The five Titans stood back in an alleyway panting.

"We seem to have lost them." Stated Robin.

Raven stood off to the side…kind of, she was bent over holding her stomach, "Need gasp to exercise pant more."

Cyborg looked down at the rifle in his hands, "I think Shadow's magic just wore off."

The team looked solemnly at the no longer glowing weapon.

Raven finally caught her breath, "This. Is just. Great."

Robin slipped over to the edge of the alley, and carefully looked out, then immediately pulled his head back in, and shuffled back to the rest of the Titans, "I don't know where they are all coming from, but the streets are crawling with Mod's robots."

Beast Boy slumped to the ground, "Aw man, no matter how many of these things we take down, ten more show up to take their place."

"So…" Starfire said slowly, "We are to go directly to the Mad Mod?"

"Yeah," replied Robin calmly, "But me and Cyborg are going in alone, we can't put you three in danger again."

"What," Asked Raven coldly.

"You heard me."

"No way man," stated Beast Boy.

"I don't want you to get hurt," Robin returned, his mask narrowing.

Raven glared daggers at the Boy Wonder, "When we joined the Titans, we all understood the risk, we should all stay."

Robin returned the glare, "The three of you return to the Tower, that's an order."

Cyborg looked up from the screen on his arm, "Sorry Robin, but that ain't possible." Everyone stared at him blankly, so he continued. "I managed to get a signal through to the Tower through all of Mod's interference. It's surrounded by robots, the defenses are holding them out, but there is no way we can get close to it."

Robin looked around for a second, "Well, since you can't get back to the tower, I want the three of you to stay here, and stay out of sight, got it?" Without waiting for an objection, he ascended the building behind them, by grappling hook, while Cyborg followed closely by a cable launched hand.

As soon as they reached the top, the android looked back down, "Isn't that a little dangerous man? I mean leavin the three of them alone without their powers."

Robin looked back, "Don't worry, we'll cause enough trouble to draw the entire army in to fight us, they'll be fine. Now let's go, we need to find Mad Mod." With that he took off, bounding rooftop to rooftop, in classic caped crusader style.

Cyborg took one last tentative glance back at the alley, then followed.

Pow Pow Pow PowI sprinted at breakneck speed, running like crazy from an entire squadron of aircraft.

As I cleared a broad road with a Demi-enhanced leap, I looked down to see ranks upon ranks of the mechanized brits. I hit the building on the other side of the road full tilt, and looked up over my shoulder at the pursuing craft, then smirked as an idea hit me.

I took a deep breath, then gravity fluxed throwing me straight into the air, rolling into a backflip that landed me right on top the cockpit of the lead aircraft. The cybernetic pilot looked up at me, human sized and shaped…perfect.

I smiled cheerfully, waved, then unlatched the hatch and grabbed the machine by the shoulders and pulled, it lifted slightly then stopped.

I almost smacked myself, then popped off its restraints, and tossed it over the side of the plane.

I dropped into the cockpit, pulled the hatch shut, strapped myself in, then looked down at completely foreign controls… "Crap."

My eyes fluttered as I recalled the pilot when it had been in here, 'let's see, it's hands were here…and here.' I grabbed on to the joystick and throttle, then looked up, straight at the face of a skyscraper, "Aww, DOUBLE CRAP!"

I yanked hard on the control stick, sending the plane into a tight series of barrel rolls that narrowly missed the building. I yanked back the other direction, sending it into a roll in the other direction. Now moving carefully, I moved the stick back in its original direction very slowly, until the aircraft leveled, then I pulled back on the stick slowly, bringing the nose up.

I quickly glanced back behind me to see the rest of the squadron starting to close in on me, 'Oh well, no more time for experimentation.'

My eyes glowed yellow as I scanned the plane nose-to-tail, analyzing everything it was capable of. As my eyes faded back to normal, I grinned and dove, just as the pursuing aircraft opened fire.

I swooped around a skyscraper, and shot straight into the air, climbing like a homesick Angel.

In mid climb, I killed all power to the throttle, and jammed down hard on the left rudder. As the plane stalled, it rotated tightly ending up facing right back at the aircraft that had been chasing me. I slammed the throttle back to full and rocketed straight at them.

My eyes narrowed, and my finger squeezed around the trigger.

Bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-blam…BOOM

The lead fighter erupted into a ball of fire, just as my plane reached it, tearing through the inferno, then diving towards the city.

The remaining ten fighters looped around and tried to fall back in on my tail.

I glanced behind me, "Alright, lets see how good of pilots you hunks of metal really are."

I dropped into a broad road, barely above the level of car roofs. In front of me, I saw a massive crowd of people running towards me, abandoning shops, vehicles, anything.

I looked a little further down the road and saw why; a line of Mod's robots were advancing down the road, firing away at anything that moved, and many a thing that didn't. To cap it all off, above everything was a massive laughing babbling Mad Mod on an overlooking Television.

My face twisted into a snarl as I squeezed the trigger again.

Bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-blam

The string of hot energy flowed into the line of machines ripping them apart.

My trailers, in response, opened up on me with their guns.

I kicked into impulse again, standing the plane on its right wing and shot down a narrow alley, riding the left rudder to keep the nose up.

I chanced a glance behind me to see two of the aircraft slam full on into the buildings, and a third try to imitate my maneuver, but didn't use the rudder, so it plummeted hard into the pavement, all three exploded brilliantly.

The other seven pulled up hard clearing the buildings, and followed me from above.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beast Boy poked his green head out from behind the dumpster that he and the girls had just had to use as an impromptu shield.

He had to blink a few times as he found himself staring at the flaming nose of an aircraft that had skidded to a stop merely ten feet away from their hiding place.

"Whoa…"

Starfire looked timidly around him at the burning mess, "It is most un-normal for Terren aircraft to hit buildings or fall from flight, yes?"

Raven looked calmly at the wreckage as she stepped out from behind the dumpster too, "Yes Starfire, planes are not supposed to crash like that."

"Then why did they perform such an action?"

"I don't know, nothing was chasing them………unless…"

Beast Boy's gaze finally fell away from the inferno, "Unless what Rae?"

She ignored his use of her shortened name for now, "Unless they were chasing something, that lead plane made it through, how could that one do something that none of the others could." Her eyes widened at the sudden realization.

"Uh, lucky robot?" asked Beast Boy.

Raven gave him a very blank look, "What?"

"Maybe the robot got lucky."

Raven rolled her eyes, "So that's why the other ones were shooting at it?"

"Okaaay, an unlucky lucky robot."

"Idiot."

"HEY!"

Raven ignored his retort, "They were chasing it because it wasn't one of their own, someone took one of Mod's planes, and is using it against him…"

Starfire suddenly looked away from the remains of the craft and back at the other two, "Friends? I believe we have more immediate things to be performing the worrying about."

"Huh?" responded Beast Boy and Raven in unison.

Star just pointed.

Past the dying flames, a group of the British machines had entered the alley.

"Target Scanning…" the lead machine spoke flatly, "Targets three through five located, Raven, Beast Boy, Starfire. Directive: Engage."

As one, the machines raised their rifles and took aim.

"Great," droned Raven.

Beast Boy whistled at the two girls, "Come on, this way." He yanked open a door on the side of the alley.

The two girls rushed in, Beast Boy following close behind, shutting the door behind them.

The lead machine's voice echoed through the door after them, "Pursue and apprehend targets."


	16. On Being British Part 3 Final

Thwip, Ch-chunk

Robin and Cyborg landed, perched atop a building.

"There he is," snarled the shorter of the two, "Ready?"

Cyborg stared down watching as Mad Mod floated down the street on a hovering sled, surrounded by a massive escort of his robotic minions.

"Yeah, let's do this……Man that's a lot of robots."

FWOOSH … FW-FW-FW-FW-FW-FWOOOOSSHHHH

The two Titans dropped to the roof as a squad of fighters roared overhead.

The lead craft sharply dove into an alley, they rocketed out, back in their direction.

Robin produced a handful of discs and drew back his arm to throw them at the leader, until it banked to the side, giving him a full view of the pilot, gloved hand raised in salute.

The Boy Wonder's face twisted into a smirk, "Shadow."

Said aircraft pulled immediately up into a loop, dodging fire from its pursuers.

The discs flew from the Titan Leader's hand, detonating against the nose of one of the pursuers, sending it careening into the distance.

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"Thanks Robin," I muttered to myself, "Five left."

I pulled out of the loop, diving straight for the road that Mad Mod and his escort marched through.

"Allow me to return the favor."

Bl-bl-bl-bl-bl-blam

Yellow energy laced out from my guns, tearing into the escorting machines, ripping about half of them to shreds.

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"RUN AWAAAAAYYYYYY!"

A screaming Beast Boy led Raven and Starfire; tearing through an alley and up a stairwell, headed for the top of an apartment complex.

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Mad Mod screamed out an order, and the remaining soldiers around him turned their weapons to the sky, firing at the rogue fighter that now spiraled away from them.

"Now, GO!" shouted Robin, throwing a handful of smoke pellets into the street, diving down after them, Cyborg in hot pursuit.

Smoke filled the street in half a heartbeat.

Wham, Slash, Blam…Bl-bl-bl-blam, BOOOM, Crunch, Clang, Z-Zap………THUD!

The smokescreen cleared to show Robin and Cyborg standing in the middle of the road, surrounded by the demolished remains of Mad Mod's escort.

Snnkkt, the Boy Wonder flipped out his Bo-Staff as Cyborg palmed his fist, "Boo Yah."

"It's over Mod, give it up."

In response all he got was laughter from the villain.

Robin snarled and leapt forward, bringing the Bo-Staff down in a heavy arc.

Swoosh—CLANG

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Thud Thud Thud

Three machines were dropped to the rooftop.

After a very short moment the three fleeing Titans bolted across the rooftop, headed for a fire escape.

"YAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

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Robin staggered forward, his staff having hit nothing but air, "A hologram?"

The image in question continued laughing. "Really my young chap, did you think I would parade about in the street like that with you youngun's still runnin around? Specially after what happened last time. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

The holograms fizzled out as a veritable army poured out from buildings, alleys, and were dropped from aircraft.

Cyborg's shoulders slumped. "Great."

"Fight!" yelled Robin, raising his Bo-Staff.

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Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven sprinted out from the alley, into the road…to be greeted by about fifty of the machines to their left.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"

The three dashed straight out into the road, and turned, running full tilt.

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FWOOSHH, aircraft rocketing along, in hot pursuit, I sat in the cockpit of my commandeered aircraft, running quick scans in between dodging weapons fire.

I hauled right on the stick, dodging a burst of energy fire, 'Crap, I almost had it.'

My eyes flicked back to yellow, and I resumed the scan.

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A pair of the killer machines stood towering over two people, possibly a couple, the boy and girl clinging to each other.

The machines raised their rifles, aiming at the helpless pair.

The two flinched towards the ground, as a dark shadow fell across them.

Sl-Sl-Sl-Sl-SLASH!

A dark cloaked, blade-wielding figure launched himself back into the air leaving the machines lying as a pile of destroyed metal.

The two teens looked at each other, looked up, back at each other, at the machines, then back at each other.

The two promptly collapsed against each other, hugging and shaking all at once.

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AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!

A shrieking Beast Boy led the two girls down the road, scrambling over and around the stopped traffic.

Panting, Raven glanced aside at Starfire, "Doesn't he ever run out of breath?"

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The machines pressed in against Robin and Cyborg, the two heroes were fighting a losing battle, and they knew it.

Glancing around, Robin spotted an opening, "Cy, time to go!"

The android threw off one more attacker and followed Robin through the opening, breaking into a full run.

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Flying at breakneck speeds over the city, my eyes faded from yellow back to normal.

"Found it……I hope."

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Beast Boy darted towards a corner, "Quick, this way," he called to the two girls.

The three came around the corner to be greeted with the sight of Robin and Cyborg running towards them, full sprint, with an army of machines in hot pursuit.

"NOT THIS WAY!"

Reunited, the five Titans dashed down the road, fleeing from the robots.

Robin looked over at the other three Titans, "I thought I told you three to stay hidden."

"Yeah," Beast Boy retorted, "That worked, the robots found us about a minute after you left."

Starfire looked over to the Boy Wonder, "Have you heard any word on our friend Shadow?"

"Yeah, actually saw him a few minutes ago…he somehow stole one of Mad Mod's planes, and is flying it right now."

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'Alright, now that I found the problem, I just need to lose these last five bogeys.'

Now able to reapply my full concentration to flying, I banked hard to the left, and dove for the ground.

On the way, I glanced back, my eyes flashing emerald. The nearest plane's engine compartment erupted into flames from my spell, sending it spiraling down, just in time to clear the city and crash into the bay.

I sat in the cockpit and panted, all the spells I was casting had almost completely exhausted me.

The final four and I rocketed out over the bay, and I turned my nose to the open ocean, throttle all the way open.

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Five Titans and an army of rampaging machines raced down the street, all was silent except for the thudding and clanking of feet.

Somehow, something in the silence of it seemed to get to Robin, as he whirled around and chucked an explosive disc into the midst of the pursuers, vaporizing two of them.

Of course, the machines retaliated, raining energy blasts towards the Titans.

"Was that really necessary Robin?" Raven panted.

BLAM- BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BL-BLAM!

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P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-POW!

"Geez, these guys are persistent," I snarled out. "Leave me alone, would ya? Just cuz I stole your plane and shot down your buddies doesn't mean that ya gotta try and kill me!"

I paused for a moment, and chuckled in spite of myself.

"Yeah, there's 20,000 years of being out of touch with the physical realm for ya."

WHOOSH

I dipped to the side again, dodging even more weapons fire.

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Cha-chink

The Titans came to a screeching halt in the middle of an intersection as they were faced with a wall of gun toting machines.

They spun towards the road to their left.

Ch-Chink…more machines

To the right…Ch-Chink

They spread into a five-point defensive formation as the last squad of machines came up as well, completely closing off their escape routes.

Cyborg looked back over his shoulder at Robin, "Now what?"

Taking a deep breath, he replied, "No more running, we have to fight."

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THERE, that's it.

Looking forward, I spotted some floating dock-like thing topped with many satellite dishes and antenna. And it was big……really, really big.

'So this is where the signal is coming from'

'That thing has to be powered somehow'

Looking closer, I spotted what appeared to be large fuel tanks. 'Hmm, that'll do.'

P-P-P-P-POW

p-p-p-ping

The aircraft dipped violently to the side, and the entire control panel went red. I'd been hit.

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On an unspoken cue, all the machines began to advance; weapons drawn, but not in a firing position.

"They want us alive." Robin stated quietly, "Titans, stand down."

All four of them looked at him incredulously, their gazes all asking 'WHAT?'

"Knowing Mad Mod, he's going to have these machines take us to him. Once there, we have a better chance of taking him down. Take him down, and the robots go down too."

One by one, the Titans reluctantly raised their hands in surrender, and waited as the machines gathered, together picked them up in restraining arms, and carried them off.

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'Come on baby, hold together for a few more moments, I just need to get this shot off'

I continued to wrestle with the control stick as the dying aircraft wobbled and faltered in flight.

I managed to drop the crosshairs across the fuel tanks. A deep breath.

Click……….

Click, click, click.

It was no good; the shots I'd taken had damaged the weapons systems. I was unarmed, and didn't have enough energy to case a spell powerful enough to pierce the armor of those fuel tanks.

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Sitting in the basement of a smaller building just outside the city, Mad Mod laughed like a madman as he watched the 'triumphant return' of his machines, carrying the five Titans like trophies from a hunt.

"You see my duckies?" He chattered, "Your li'l escape only bought you a little bit of time, and this time I have all of you. And don't think I forgot about you new member, I've received word from my pilot bots that they have shot him down already."

"Ya see, this is further proof that you young un's need to respec' your elders, cause sooner or later, they'll turn around and out do ya."

"Now, just to make sure that yun's don't cause any more trouble…it's re-education time!"

As he spoke a large screen descended from the ceiling of the room.

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"NNGGHHH!"

I fought desperately with the control stick, trying to keep the wounded craft in the air. Suddenly a thought hit me, 'Why try to keep this thing up…it's not doing me much good right now.'

I repositioned the crosshairs over the fuel tanks, and pressed the throttle to full.

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A hypnotic black and white spiral appeared on the screen in front of the Titans.

The Titans began to struggle against their captors, trying to avoid the screen.

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I took one last deep breath as the floundering craft dove towards the platform. I gripped the hilt of my sword, and drove it through the glass of the cockpit.

Summoning the last bit of energy I could spare for spells, I fluxed gravity underneath me, hurling me clear of the aircraft.

A beat

**KABOOOOOOOM!**

The air around me shook violently as my former craft slammed into the fuel tanks. The tanks that it struck erupted into a ball of flame, triggering those next to them. Within half a heartbeat the entire structure had erupted into a pillar of flame.

I blinked my eyes, dazzled and thrilled by the massive explosion, then looked down at the water, some 40 feet below me. One thought hit me.

'This is gonna hurt.'

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Starfire struggled against the machine that restrained her; "No, please stop now," A second one stepped up next to her, and grabbed her head, forcing it in the direction of the screen.

Her eyes began to lock onto the screen then she blinked, something catching her attention. She felt a deep familiar burning inside her chest, glaring up at the screen, her eyes burned a hot, dangerous green.

"I said NO!" The Tamerainian warrior shouted, as a pair of eyebeams lanced out, obliterating the screen.

Mad Mod froze in his gloating…"Wuh oh."

The girl flexed her arms, tearing the machine in two, then turned her fury on the one that had grabbed her head. A barrage of starbolts reduced it to a hunk of charred metal.

Beast Boy, who had somehow managed to avoid the screen to this point, was the first to catch on; he morphed into a bear, and reduced his captor to many, many small pieces.

As it all clicked with the rest of the Titans, and they began to prepare to fight, all the machines suddenly went dim-eyed, and slumped over.

The Five, now re-empowered Titans, looked away from the lifeless machines, and at Mod. He whipped out his cane and clicked the top of it. Immediately six of the powered-down machines became reanimated.

Raven simply glared at the machines, "Azerath Metrion Zinthos!" All six machines were covered in black energy and ripped to shreds. The dark power immediately lashed out towards the shocked Brit, severing his cane in two.

Before Mad Mod knew what happened, Robin had him by the collar, and was pinned against the floor.

"H-hullo gov'nor," He stammered.

Robin smirked at him, then flipped him over and restrained his hands with a pair of handcuffs.

The Boy Wonder looked over at the rest of the Titans, "I think we may have Shadow to thank for the return of powers, but Mad Mod mentioned something about his pilots having shot Shadow down. Starfire and I will stay here and wait for the police. The rest of you, track his communicator, and go find him.

"Right."


End file.
